Decorative bell - Vietnam - ritual bell

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Ritual bell
Dong Son culture (Northern Vietnam and the area extending into continental Southeast Asia)
Battambang Province
Bronze age, dating from the 5th century BC to the 1st-2nd century AD
Copper alloy (bronze)
Height: 11.5 cm - diameter: 8.5 cm

Rare liturgical bell cast in lost-wax bronze, featuring a flat and asymmetrical profile characteristic of prestige sound instruments of the Bronze Age in Southeast Asia.

The object is designed to be suspended vertically. The upper part, with a flattened rectangular section, forms a sleeve or attachment handle that is slightly concave at the top. The body of the bell flares asymmetrically, ending in a wide, curved lower skirt shaped like a crescent. One of the main faces is adorned with an originally linear geometric design: a double incised groove in shallow relief that harmoniously follows the sinuous contours and the bend of the instrument, structuring its clean surface.

The piece bears a superb archaeological patina. A deep greenish-green (copper carbonate) background alternates with significant sedimentary and earthy concretions of an ochre-brown hue (rich in iron oxides), highly mineralized and embedded in the cavities as well as along the edges of the skirt, testifying to a very long sojourn buried underground.

Although the Dong Son culture is world-famous for its large bronze drums, it also possessed a rich tradition of highly specialized percussion instruments, such as flat bells and small bells. While Battambang Province is not the cradle of this culture, it was an integral part of long-distance exchange networks. Prestige objects circulated intensely along coastal routes and riverways (the Mekong, the Tonlé Sap). They were exported to Cambodia, Thailand, Laos and as far as Indonesia.

These bells were not mere utilitarian objects but sacred instruments used by shamans, clan leaders, or aristocracy during agricultural rites, funerary ceremonies, or to rhythmically accompany ritual dances. Carried or suspended from wooden trellises, their asymmetric shape enabled particular acoustic properties. Objects of great prestige and symbols of spiritual and temporal power, they frequently accompanied dignitaries in their tombs.

Condition:
Good structural conservation for bronze of this age. The decorative relief motifs remain perfectly clear and legible under natural oxidation.

Provenance: Kanaka The Collection

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