An Imperial gilt-bronze bell, Mark and period of Xuande

Christie's Hong Kong, 27th April 1997, lot 43.

The present bell (Skt. ghanta, Tib. drilbu) is one of the eight Buddhist implements, which also include the vajra, phurba, conch shell, kapala and drum, bone flute and iron dagger. It is rare to find a Xuande reign-marked bell of this type, and only a small number of examples is recorded, including one in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Cultural Relics of Tibetan Buddhism Collected in the Qing Palace, Hong Kong, 1992, pl. 132-1, and another sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 9th October 2012, lot 3111. See also another closely related but unmarked example from the Pritzker Collection, on long-term loan to the Rubin Museum of Art, illustrated in Robert Bigler, Art and Faith at the Crossroads, Zurich, 2013, cat. no. 46. 

Xuande period ghanta are of particular significance as these were later used as prototype for the identical bells produced under the supervision of the lamas Zhangjia Rimpoche and Anwangjiu Zhu'er during the Qianlong reign. A Qianlong reign-marked example was included in the exhibition Buddhist Art from Rehol, Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Art, Kaohsiung, 1999, cat. nos 74-2; and another was sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 2nd May 2005, lot 539. Such ghanta are normally paired in a set with a vajra and enclosed in a conjoined box. See for example two complete bell and vajra sets marked to the Qianlong reign, one included in the exhibition Qing Legacies. The Sumptuous Art of Imperial Packaging, The Macau Museum of Art, Macau, 2000, cat. no. 59, and the other sold in our Paris rooms, 9th June 2010, lots 44 and 45. Compare also a bell of this type carved from white jade in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Jadeware, vol. 3, Hong Kong, 1995, pl. 135. 

The present bell is finely cast in two pieces, the gilt-bronze handle formed of a central Vairochana head crowned with an eight-leaf diadem, with long bejewelled earlobes, downcast eyes and a meditative expression, set below a lotus base supporting a half vajra-shaped terminal with makara heads projecting four prongs joining at their tip around a central post. The ungilded bell is cast with a broad band of stone chimes suspending dharma wheels and tassels, between a border of upright vajra scepters within raised beads around the base and a band of horizontal vajra scepters between beaded borders at the shoulder, the apex of the bell with a border of petals lappet enclosing lança characters encircling a starburst collaring the shaft, the top of the interior cast with a stylized floret issuing further lantsa characters and inscribed with a six-character reign mark.

藏傳佛教常用法器有八，此金剛鈴乃當中之一，其他包括金剛杵、金剛橛、法螺、嘎巴拉盌、法鼓、骨笛、金剛斧，皆藏於佛寺寶箱中。金剛鈴與杵，象徵擊退邪靈的智慧與力量。

此類金剛鈴，甚少見帶宣德年款者，除此品外，現知唯一已出版作例，藏於北京故宮，著錄於《清宮藏傳佛教文物》，香港，1992年，圖版132-1。乾隆年款作例，一件曾展於《避暑山莊藏傳佛教文物特展》，高雄市立美術館，高雄，1999年，編號74-2，另一件則售於香港蘇富比2005年5月2日，編號539。也請參見兩對成套金剛鈴與杵，其一曾展於《金相玉質：清宮廷包裝藝術》，澳門藝術博物館，2000年，編號59；另一對則於2010年6月9日巴黎蘇富比售出，編號44。金剛鈴亦有白玉作例，如北京故宮博物院藏品，見《故宮博物院藏文物珍品全集‧玉器（下）》，香港，1995年，圖版135。