A rare imperial gilt-bronze temple bell, bianzhong

Kangxi mark and period, dated to the 54th year, corresponding to 1715

清康熙五十四年（1715年） 銅鎏金蒲牢鈕八卦紋「黃鐘」編鐘

《康熙五十四年製》款

字：

黃鐘

the large bell finely cast, suspended from a double-headed dragon handle, each beast powerfully rendered with eyes bulging and nostrils flaring above long curling whiskers, the mouth open to reveal its tongue thrust between sharp fangs, with two long studded horns extending back over its head along a combed mane with finely incised details, the two scaly bodies intertwined and crouching in ambush, the large barrel-shaped body of the bell with four panels of alternating bosses and trigrams, divided by two rectangular panels, one inscribed with the characters Kangxi wushisi nian zhi (made in the fifty-fourth year of Kangxi), and the other with huangzhong, denoting its musical pitch

Height 11 ? in., 30 cm

P.C. Lu & Sons, Ltd., Hong Kong, 11th July 1987. 

來源

魯氏父子有限公司，香港，1987年7月11日