Page 34 - Christie's Hong Kong May 31, 2017 Fine Buddhist Works of Art

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A RARE PARCEL-GILT BRONZE 明宣德 局部鎏金銅金剛鈴
CEREMONIAL BELL, GHANTA 「大明宣德年施」楷書刻款

XUANDE INCISED SIX-CHARACTER PRESENTATION 來源
MARK AND OF THE PERIOD (1426-1435) Rossi & Rossi，倫敦

The gilt handle of the bell is cast with a face of Buddha wearing 鈴銅質，鎏金杵形把手，上飾佛首、覆蓮紋，下方陰刻「大明宣德年
an eight-foliate crown, supporting a band of lotus petals and 施」直款，鈴身飾一圈覆蓮紋，每瓣內有一梵文字，下承纓絡紋一
surmounted by a quintuple vajra-form finial. The cylindrical 圈，間以金剛杵紋兩圈。內壁鑄梵文蘭札體三字真言「唵啞吽」。
handle, inscribed with the six-character presentation mark, is
attached to the domed-shaped bell decorated with radiating 「唵啞吽」為《蓮花生大士心咒》中的頭三個字。
lotus petals each containing a Sanskrit mantra, above a band of
horizontal vajra symbols within beaded borders that are repeated 金剛鈴亦稱藏鈴，是藏傳佛教常用法器之一，被視為表明智德，具
above the splayed foot in vertical form. The interior of the 摧破煩惱、明示佛智之體堅固二德的法器。此鈴刻有宣德年款，為
bell with three Sanskrit characters, Oṃ āḥ hūṃ mantra in Lantsa 明代宮廷製造。北京故宮博物院藏一件造型及紋飾均非常相似之
Sanskrit. 例，內壁鑄「大明宣德年造」楷書陽文款，見1992年北京出版《清
8 æ in. (22.2 cm.) high 宮藏傳佛教文物》，圖版132號。亦可參考一件鑄永樂年款例子，見
同上，圖版131號。
HK$550,000-800,000 US$72,000-100,000
另可參考國立故宮博物院藏一件無款的相似例，內壁亦鑄梵文「唵
PROVENANCE 啞吽」，原存養心殿，見1999年台北出版《皇權與佛法：藏傳佛教
法器特展圖錄》，台北，頁76，圖版8號。
Acquired from Rossi & Rossi, London

The ritual bell, Diamond Bell, or Ghanta serves as a ritual
instrument. Bells of this type symbolise sound, the creative
word which through vibration transmits the repetition of a
mantra. It is the female aspect of wisdom and truth in the
void and emptiness. When the bell is struck its sound is brief
which represents the concept of a short duration and all that
is fleeting. Compare with a similar Xuande example in the
Palace Museum Collection, Beijing, bearing a cast Da Ming
Xuande nianshi presentation mark on the interior, illustrated in
Cultural Relics of Tibetan Buddhism Collected in the Qing Palace,
Forbidden City Press, 1992, nos. 132-1, 132-2, 132-3. A
Yongle-marked example is also illustrated, ibid., nos. 131-1 and
131-2. It is interesting to note that the present bell is cast with
Oṃ āḥ hūṃ in Lantsa Sanskrit, which forms the beginning of the
Padmasambhava mantra, Om Ah Hum Vajra Guru Padma Siddhi
Hum.

Compare also a related Tibetan ritual bell cast with the same
mantra on the interior, illustrated in Monarchy and Its Buddhist
Way, Tibetan-Buddhist Ritual Implements in the National Palace
Museum, Taipei, 1999, p. 76, no. 8.

mark inscription on the interior of the bell
款識 鈴內鑄款

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