Page 23 - Bonhams, Roger Keverne Moving on Part 1 May 11, 2021 London

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A RARE ARCHAIC BRONZE RITUAL BELL, NAO
Late Shang Dynasty
The body of lenticular section, crisply cast in high
relief on each side with a taotie mask with buffalo
horns, the hollow tapering shank opening into the
base of the bell, all under a mottled malachite shallow
encrustation, metal stand.
17.5cm (6 7/8in) high. (2).
£5,000 - 8,000
CNY45,000 - 72,000
Please note this Lot is to be sold at No Reserve.
本拍品不設底價

商晚期 青銅獸面紋鐃

Bells shaped as the present example are among
China’s earliest percussion instruments. Many have
been unearthed from mountain slopes and along
riverbanks in south China. Nao bells were designed
to be mounted on their hollow stems with the curved
mouth facing up and struck from the outside with
a mallet. Unlike other types of bronze bells, which
were assembled as chime sets, the present bell was
intended to be played as an individual instrument and
may have been sounded during ceremonies or military
campaigns.

See a similar bronze ritual bell, Nao, Shang dynasty,
illustrated by J.Rawson and E.Bunker, Ancient Chinese
and Ordos Bronzes, London, 1990, no.49; and also a
similar bronze ritual bell excavated from Shaanxi Baoji
Zhuyuangou M13, Western Zhou dynasty, illustrated
by J.Rawson, Western Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the
Arthur M.Sackler Collections, Vol. II, Washington, 14
1990, fig.127.4.

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A RARE ARCHAIC BRONZE RITUAL LADLE, DOU
Shang Dynasty
The barrel-shaped bowl cast with the deep rounded
sides rising from a slightly concave base, the short
handle gently curved upward, decorated to the top
in relief with a taotie mask, with a hollow interior to
facilitate attachment to a longer shaft.
15.5cm (6 1/8in) long.
£1,500 - 2,000
CNY14,000 - 18,000
Please note this Lot is to be sold at No Reserve.
本拍品不設底價

商 青銅獸面紋枓

See a related example illustrated in Zhongguo Wenwu
Jinghua Da Quan, Hong Kong, 1993, no.897; see
also one excavated from tomb no.1400 at Xibeigang,
Anyang, Henan Province, and now in the collection of
the Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica,
Taipei, illustrated in King Wu Ding and Lady Hao: Art
and Culture of the Late Shang Dynasty, Taipei, 2012,
p.111, no.III-2.

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