AN ARCHAIC BRONZE BELL, BO EASTERN ZHOU DYNASTY – SPRING AND AUTUMN PERIOD |

heavily cast, suspended from a handle cast with two feline beasts, their undulating bodies covered in scales and terminating in a long curled tail, the bell of pointed oval section, the body cast with five registers of alternating bosses and archaic motifs, divided by two rectangular panels, all above a large beast mask, the top of the bell further decorated with dragon scrolls

A French private collection.

Known as bo for its elaborately cast handle in the form of two feline beasts, sets of bronze bells of this type were an essential part of ritual paraphernalia and were considered to confer status and rank to their owners. Bells with such elaborate motifs were probably executed with rectangular pattern blocks, first developed in the early 6th century BC. These encouraged craftsmen to create highly complex composition through the repetition and intertwining of different ornamental motifs.

A set of nineteen bo zhong of graduated sizes was unearthed from the tomb of Zhaoqing, a high-ranking noble of the Jin state, in Jinsheng, Taiyuan, Shaanxi province, and illustrated in Zhongguo Qingtongqi quanji [The complete collection of Chinese archaic bronzes], vol. 8, Beijing, 1995, pls 111-2. In the Qing dynasty, and especially at the Imperial court, there was a preference to treat the surfaces of newly discovered archaic bronzes, removing the encrustation and blackening the vessel, thereby converting an old patinated bronze into an attractive antique. The attractive dark mottled surface on the current bell encapsulates this technique, strongly pointing to its provenance in Qing dynasty China, possibly at the court. For another bell with the same characteristic patina of the Qing dynasty, see the bell of Zong Zhou in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, dating to the late Western Zhou dynasty, included in the museum's exhibition Splendid Treasures. A Hundred Masterpieces of the National Palace Museum on Parade, Taipei, 2012, cat. no. 10.