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Identification and Creation

Object Number
2006.170.152
Title
'Chunyu' Bell with Tiger-Form Handle
Other Titles
Original Language Title: 戰國 青銅錞于
Classification
Ritual Implements
Work Type
bell
Date
5th-3rd century BCE
Places
Creation Place: East Asia, China, Sichuan province
Period
Zhou dynasty, Warring States period, 475-221 BCE
Culture
Chinese
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/173593

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Cast bronze with incised decoration
Dimensions
H. 45 x Diam. 23.7 cm (17 11/16 x 9 5/16 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
[J.J. Lally & Co., New York, March 2001] sold; to Walter C. Sedgwick Foundation, Woodside, CA (2001-2006), partial gift; to Harvard University Art Museums, 2006.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Partial gift of the Walter C. Sedgwick Foundation and partial purchase through the Alpheus Hyatt Purchasing Fund
Accession Year
2006
Object Number
2006.170.152
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
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Descriptions

Description
Tall upright form with oval cross-section, with sides rising to wide, rounded shoulders, surmounted by a flat platform top with neatly finished raised edge and a figure of a tiger at the center for the handle; the stylized feline with long tail and wide jaws, fitted with a collar and decorated with finely detailed linear scroll motifs; three pictograms cast into the flat top, including antlered figures in a boat, a fish, and a human mask, the smooth surface with dark olive green patina. Much like a musical gong, chunyu bells are struck to emit their sounds.
Commentary
Compare to:
(1) Nearly identical bronze bell with handle in the form of a tiger excavated in 1972 from a Warring States period earthen pit tomb near Xiaotian Creek, Fuling District, Sichuan province. See Wenwu [Cultural Relics] 5 (1974): 73, fig. 21.
(2) Closely related bronze bell of this type excavated in 1989 from a Warring States period site at Pengshan, Tonglexiang, Sichuan province. See Zhongguo qingtongqi quanji [Compendium of Chinese Bronzes], vol. 13: no. 186, p. 170.

Publication History

  • Ancient China: Music & Ritual, March 20 to April 7, 2001, auct. cat., J.J. Lally & Co. (New York, NY, 2001), no. 10

Related Works

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu