Page 128 - Blum Feinstein Tanka collection HIMALAYAN Art Bonhams March 20 2024

PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
COLLECTION
370
A MASSIVE INSCRIBED IRON TEMPLE BELL The same inscription appears on a very similar large bronze bell in
Dated by inscription to the 58th year of the Qianlong reign, collection of the British Museum (coll. no. 1946,0211.1), dated by
corresponding to 1793 inscription to the Chongyang day (Double Ninth Festival) in the 59th
The tall, domed body broadening at the undulating lower rim, year of the Qianlong reign, the year after the present iron bell was
surmounted by a double-headed beast-form finial for suspension, the cast. On the British Museum's website, the author translates the
sides cast in high relief with a lappet band above an upper register above inscription: 'Respectful wishes to the consolidation of the
bearing a four-line inscription with each line divided by a rectangular royal domain, the long-lasting prosperity of state governing. May the
panel, the lower register with a further four-line inscription divided by Buddha-sun which drives away the darkness of ignorance be honored
rectangular panels, two of the lower panels cast with the names and and the Dharma wheel rolling along forever.' This sixteen-character
financial contributions of 22 donor families, a third panel cast with the phrase was cast on other Buddhist temple bells of the Ming and Qing
date, the name of the maker, and other details; together with a wood dynasty, and inscribed as a frontispiece in various sutras, including
stand, wood base, and two wood mallets. a copy of the Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment (大方廣圓覺修多羅了
36in (91.4cm) high; 25in (61cm) diam 義經) dated to the 6th year of the Jingtai reign (1455) and now in the
collection of the Beijing Palace Museum (illustrated on the museum's
$6,000 - 8,000 website); and a copy of the Lotus Sutra (妙法蓮華經) from the first year
of the Chenghua reign (1464) and later in the collection of the Qianlong
清乾隆 《乾隆五十八年》《長慶菴》《易宗傑鑄》銘 鐵鑄紀年龍鈕 emperor, before entering the collection of the Taipei Palace Museum
大鐘 (acc. no. 故佛000322-000328), to name only two examples.
The inscription on the upper register reads: The lower register contains a four-line section from the Flower
Adornment Sutra (大方廣佛華嚴經) reading:
皇圖永固, 帝道遐昌, 佛日增輝, 法輪常轉
若人欲了知, 三世一切佛, 應觀法界性, 一切唯心造

This can be translated as: 'If people would like to know all Buddhas of
the three periods of time, they should contemplate the nature of the
Dharma Realm: Everything is made from the mind alone.'

Each line of the sutra is divided by a panel containing the names of
donors. The final panel is cast with the date of the bell's manufacture,
the name of the temple (Changqing'an 長慶菴), and the name of the
bell's caster (Yi Zongjie 易宗傑).

(dated inscription)

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