43 cm. （17 in.） high

Property from an Important Hong Kong Private Collection

During the Eastern Zhou dynasty, the casting of bronzes in northern China was centered on the state of Jin, present-day Shanxi province. Archaic bronze bells such as the current lot were already cast with much finesse and the production process was very much standardised； the archaistic motifs were moulded using clay pattern blocks which were carved and used to impress strips of negative design in clay to fill out the moulds. The clay blocks were reused to make identical impression of interlacing strips on the same bell, as well as other bells, until the motif is gradually worn and replaced.

The present lot was formerly in the collection of T.T. Tsui and the Tsui Museum of Art, Hong Kong, and appears to have a rare and unique cast handle modelled in the form of two confronting birds. Important archaic bronze bells such as the current lot are also equally found in major museum collections around the world. Compare a closely similar bronze bell but with two cast dragons forming a loop handle dated to Eastern Zhou dynasty （accession no.1965, 0612.1）, formerly in the Adolphe Stoclet Collection and later acquired via funding by the Brooke Sewell Permanent Fund and bequeathed to the collection of the British Museum, London, in 1965. See also another archaic bronze bell dated to the Spring and Autumn period （accession no.EA1956.885） which also features a pair of cast dragon handle, donated to the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, by Sir Herbert Ingram in 1956.

For related examples in North American museum collections, compare an archaic bronze ritual bell with stylised dragon, taotie decoration and a handle in the form of confronting dragons （accession no.1943.52.178 ） dated to Zhou dynasty, Warring States period （accession no.1943.52.178）, bequeathed by Grenville L. Winthrop to Harvard Art Musuems/Arthur M. Sackler Museum in 1943. See also a related archaic bronze bell dated to late Sping and Autumn/early Warring States period （accession no.11.1271）, bequeathed by Mrs Walter Scott Fitz to the collection of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. Compare also an archaic bronze bell dated Spring and Autumn period （accession no.1988.20.7）, formerly in the collection of Charlotte C. and John C. Weber, subsequently bequeathed to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, in 1988.

For an example sold at auction, see an archaic bronze bell dated to the Warring States period, 5th century BC, from the Hans Odder Collection, Germany, which has been in the collection since the 1920s, exhibited at Ostasiatische Kunst und Chinoiserie, Cologne in 1953, then subsequently sold at Sotheby’s London, 19 June 1984, lot 10 and again at Christie’s New York, 22-23 March 2012, lot 1528. Another archaic bronze bell dated to the late Spring and Autumn period formerly in the collection of Kinpei Takeuchi （1873-1960）, Ryuichi Sano （1889-1977） and in the collection of the Sano Art Museum, Mishima, was subsequently sold at Christie’s New York, 21 & 22 March 2013, lot 1244.

Provenance：
Acquired in 1992 in Hong Kong
The Tsui Muserum of Art, Hong Kong

Price estimate:
HKD: 1, 500, 000 - 2, 000, 000
USD: 192, 300 - 256, 400

Auction Result:
HKD: 2,537,000