AN UNUSUAL SILVER-DECORATED BRONZE HAND-HELD BELL, ZHENG

WESTERN HAN DYNASTY (206 BC-AD 8)

Details

AN UNUSUAL SILVER-DECORATED BRONZE HAND-HELD BELL, ZHENG
WESTERN HAN DYNASTY (206 BC-AD 8)
Of slender, flaring, lenticular section with high arched lower rims, each side with a plain raised panel below a band of silvered diamond pattern, with further silvered bands, and a narrow collar encircling the quadrilobed handle which is surmounted by a loop suspending a ring
12 in. (30.5 cm.) high, box

Provenance

Acquired in Hong Kong, March 1994.

Exhibited

The Glorious Traditions of Chinese Bronzes, Singapore, 2000, no. 76.
Metal, Wood, Water, Fire and Earth, Hong Kong Museum of Art, 2002-2006.

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Lot Essay

The slender, elongated shape of this bell, and the high arch of the lower rims, is quite unusual. A bronze bell of related shape, with long tapering, faceted handle, excavated from the Western Han tomb of the King of Nanyue, is illustrated in Xihan Nanyue Wangmu, Beijing, 1991, vol. II, p. 193. Bells of this type are also known as dingning and were used to signal the advance or retreat in battle. Another similar zheng, with the same plain borders outlining the shape of the bell, and enclosing panels of cast dragon decoration, dated Warring States, is illustrated in Chugoku Sengoku jidai no bijutsu (The Art of the Warring States Period), Osaka Municipal Musuem of Fine Art, 1991, p. 84, no. 106

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