A slightly tapering cylinder which is decorated and topped by two symmetrical creatures
Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
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Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College

A rough-textured light green cylinder. Around the base of the cylinder is a horizontal row of geometric and curling designs which look like a maze. Some of the details seem to be obscured or rubbed away. There is a central vertical blank panel running down the middle, which is flanked by horizontal lines of raised bumps which alternate with panels of similar maze decorations. The cylinder is topped by two symmetrical creatures with long curling bodies. They face away from each other and their scaled bodies meet at their tails, from which a squared arch arises, like a handle.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1943.52.108
Title
Ritual Bell (Bo zhong) with Decorative Panels of Interlaced Dragons, Bosses in the Form of Coiled Dragons, and Handle in the Form of Addorsed Felines
Classification
Ritual Implements
Work Type
bell
Date
late 6th-early 5th century BCE
Places
Creation Place: East Asia, China
Period
Zhou dynasty, Spring and Autumn period, 770-476 BCE
Culture
Chinese
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/203987

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Cast bronze
Dimensions
H. 35.5 x W. 22.5 x D. 16.7 cm (14 x 8 7/8 x 6 9/16 in.)
Weight 15 lb.

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Grenville L. Winthrop, New York (by 1943), bequest; to Fogg Art Museum, 1943.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Grenville L. Winthrop
Accession Year
1943
Object Number
1943.52.108
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Publication History

  • Dorothy W. Gillerman, ed., Grenville L. Winthrop: Retrospective for a Collector, exh. cat., Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, 1969), no. 038, pp. 36-37
  • Jenny So, Eastern Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, Arthur M. Sackler Foundation (New York, NY, 1995), p. 376, Fig. 77.3

Exhibition History

  • S427: Ancient Chinese Bronzes and Jades, Harvard University Art Museums, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 10/20/1985 - 04/30/2008

Subjects and Contexts

  • Google Art Project

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