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PROPERTY OF A LADY 東周 春秋 青銅蟠螭紋鎛
AN ARCHAIC BRONZE BELL (BO) 來源：
EASTERN ZHOU DYNASTY, SPRING AND 上拍於紐約蘇富比2004年3月23日，編號586
AUTUMN PERIOD Hartman Rare Art Inc.，紐約
of tapered oval section, each side cast with four principal
registers, the broad lowest register cast in low relief with a
taotie mask formed of interlinked dragons, the upper three
registers divided by a central vertical panel and each bearing
six large hemispherical bosses cast in the form of coiled
dragons, horizontal bands of interlaced dragons between
each register, the flat top decorated with further bands of
interlaced dragons, surmounted by an elaborate openwork
suspension loop in the form of a pair of confronting
feline mythical beasts, their sinuous bodies moving in an
undulating rhythm from their curling tails to their arched
torsos and long necks turned back to grasp the loop with
their jaws
Height 10¾ in., 27.2 cm

PROVENANCE
Offered at Sotheby’s New York, 23rd March 2004, lot 586.
Hartman Rare Art Inc., New York.
Exquisitely cast with confronting dragons on its handle and a
large taotie mask on the lower register, this magnificent bell
(bo) is a fine example of bronzes created during the Eastern
Zhou dynasty (770-256 BC). Known as bo zhong for their
level rims and loop handles, bronze bells of this type would
have been suspended from a frame and sounded by striking
with a hammer.
The present piece is closely related to a set of nineteen
bo zhong of graduated sizes, unearthed from the tomb of
Zhaoqing, a high-ranking official of the Jin state during the
late Spring and Autumn period (770-476 BC), in Taiyuan,
Shanxi province, now in the collection of Shanxi Archaeology
Institute, illustrated in Zhongguo qingtongqi quanji / The
Complete Collection of Chinese Archaic Bronzes, Eastern
Zhou, vol. 8, Beijing, 1995, pls 111-114. Compare also a larger
bronze bell preserved in the British Museum, London (acc. no.
1965,0612.1), included in the International Exhibition of Chinese
Art, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1935, cat. no. 181.
⊖ $ 50,000-70,000

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