EASTERN ZHOU DYNASTY (770-256 BC)

Details

A LARGE BRONZE BELL, BO
EASTERN ZHOU DYNASTY (770-256 BC)
The heavily cast bell is of oval section and is decorated on each side with a plain, central, vertical panel dividing two quadrangular panels outlined by raised thin borders, each enclosing three horizontal rows of three rounded bosses decorated with whorl motifs, and dividing bands of dense overlapping scroll motifs interspersed with small knobs. The latter pattern is repeated in a wide band above the mouth, and on the flat top below the 'A'-shaped loop handle, which is decorated with shell motifs. The silvery grey bronze shows an uneven patination, with areas of bright malachite-green and azurite-blue encrustation on the surface.
15 7/8 in. (40.3 cm.) high, stand

Provenance

Acquired in Hong Kong, 1999.
J. J. Lally & Co., New York, August 2001.

Literature

Ancient China: Music & Ritual, J.J. Lally & Co., New York, 2001, no. 5.

Exhibited

Ancient China: Music & Ritual, J.J. Lally & Co., New York, 20 March - 7 April 2001, no. 5.

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Nick Wilson

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Lot Essay

Compare a smaller, very similarly-decorated bell, but with dragon-form handle, in the St. Louis Art Museum, illustrated by George W. Weber, Jr. in The Ornaments of Late Chou Bronzes, A Method of Analysis, New Jersey, 1973, pl. 50, p. 242, and a related, yet smaller, bell from the Pillsbury Collection, Minneapolis Institute of Art, pl. 49.

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