A RARE PAIR OF EARLY MING SINO-TIBETAN BRONZE RITUAL BELLS AND A DOUBLE VAJRA

细节

A RARE PAIR OF EARLY MING SINO-TIBETAN BRONZE RITUAL BELLS AND A DOUBLE VAJRA
YONGLE AND XUANDE SIX-CHARACTER MARKS AND OF THE PERIOD

Each similar domed bell cast in relief with a border of lotus petal lappets enclosing lanca characters above a wide border of lion masks suspending beaded chains divided by auspicious emblems framed by thin bands enclosing double-vajras, the gilt-bronze handles with the head of a diety in a contemplative mood wearing a crown supporting a single vajra rising from a lotus pod, the nianhao cast in a vertical line on the interior opposite three lanca characters; and a gilt-bronze double-vajra the central knob flanked by lotus pods surrounded by upright petals below eight 'flames'
the larger bell 9 in. (22.8 cm.) high; the double-vajra 7 in. (17.6 cm.) long (3)

拍品专文

A near identical Yongle-marked bell together with a double-vajra in their original storage case was included in the exhibition, La Cite Interdite, Musee du Petit Palais, Paris, 1996-1997, Catalogue, nos. 53 and 54 also published in Cultural Relics of Tibetan Buddhism Collected in the Qing Palace, as figs. 131, 131-1--131-3; together with a Xuande marked bell, figs. 132, 132-1--131-3. A last example is illustrated in Ming and Qing Ceramics and Works of Art from the Osaka Museum, p. 56, fig. 8.

(US$13,000-20,000_