 BRONZE KETTLE DRUM Current and Past Exhibitions
No. 1.BRONZE KETTLE DRUM.NORTHERN VIETNAM.DONG SON CULTURE.3RD CENTURY BC – 1ST CENTURY AD.H. 65 CMS, 25 ½ INS.D. (AT SHOULDER) 86 CMS, 34 INS.D. (Tympanum) 78 CMS, 30 ¾ INS. A large and exceptionally rare bronze kettle-drum, cast by the lost-wax method, with a deep green patina, the shoulder and main body with a series of vertical and horizontal bands of dash lines, saw-teeth and linked circles, decorated with fish, birds and scenes of feather men in boats and wielding spears and shields; the tympanum with similar geometric bands surrounding a twelve-point star and interspersed with multiple aquatic birds, round and flat roofed houses, pairs of standing figures pounding rice, platforms containing drummers beating time with sticks and parading musicians, the sides with two pairs of double ‘rope’ handles. This spectacular drum is a veritable tour de force of bronze casting. Among its many remarkable features is the presence of drummers beating kettle drums with long poles, an important clue to the function of these objects and to the method by which they were played. Dong Son drums, also known as Heger Type I drums, are mainly attributed to the Dong Son culture, centred on the Red River Delta of northern Vietnam. They were produced from around 600 BC until the third century AD and have been found across a vast area of Southeast Asia from Vietnam and Southern China to eastern Indonesia. There has been much speculation as to whether the drums were made for religious ceremonies such as harvest rituals or burials, served to rally men for war, or if they had a more secular role. In folk lore they are known as ‘rain drums’ and played to summon rain or to placate storms.One of the most celebrated examples of Dong Son drums is named Hoàng Ha (after the village in which it was discovered) and closely resembles this example – see p. 121 in Ha Thuc Can, The Bronze Dong Son Drums, Singapore and Hong Kong, 1989. This drum is also illustrated as plate 11.20b in A. J. Bernet Kempers, The Kettledrums of Southeast Asia: A Bronze Age World and Its Aftermath, Rotterdam and Brookfield: A.A. Balkema, 1988 and on pp. 6-7 in Pham Huy Thong et al, Dong Son Drums in Vietnam, Social Science Publishing House, 1990.
|  A massive iron temple bell
A massive iron temple bell with a Chinese inscription on the side.Height: 100 cm, 39 1/2 ins.Diameter: 79 cm, 31 ins.Chinese, Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).
|  BRONZE OCTAFOIL MIRROR Current and Past Exhibitions
Catalogue no. 12.BRONZE OCTAFOIL MIRROR.CHINA.TANG DYNASTY.618 – 907 AD.D. 11.5 CMS, 4 ½ INS. . An octafoil mirror decorated with a pair of Mandarin ducks and a pair of swans surrounding a central knob in the form of a crouching animal, the outer rim raised and border decorated with floral sprays. The silvery colour is due to a high tin content in the bronze. For a comparable mirror, see fig. 68, page 75 in Chou Ju-Hsi, Circles of Reflection: The Carter Collection of Chinese Bronze Mirrors, The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2000. See also fig. 59, A. Soper, Chinese, Korean and Japanese Bronzes, Rome, 1966. PROVENANCE: Private English collection. Acquired by the owner’s father during employment with the British Foreign Service during the 1950s or 1960s.
|  ARCHAIC BRONZE RITUAL FOOD VESSEL AND COVER (DING) Current and Past Exhibitions
Catalogue no. 16.ARCHAIC BRONZE RITUAL FOOD VESSEL AND COVER (DING). CHINA.WARRING STATES PERIOD.475 - 221 BC.H. 20 CMS, 8 INS. W. (ACROSS HANDLES). 24.2 CMS, 9 ½ INS. A fine archaic bronze ritual food vessel and cover (ding), the globular body standing on three cabriole legs and set with two upright arch handles with rope-twist borders; the gently domed cover set with three loop finials, the body divided by a horizontal ridge separating two finely cast bands of dragon scrolls in flat relief, the cover with three further bands of dragon scrolls, the bronze bearing a greyish-green patina with some areas of brighter encrustation. Note: The three loop finials on the cover are for use as feet when the vessel is upturned as a dish. For a similar example see no 61A in William Watson, Ancient Chinese Bronzes, Faber and Faber, 1977. For another vessel in the Stuttgart Museum, see fig. 11 in J. Kalter et al, Ferne Völker Frühe Zeiten: Kunstwerke aus dem Linden-Museum, Stuttgart, 1982. PROVENANCE: Private English collection. Acquired by the owner’s father during employment with the British Foreign Service during the 1950s or 1960s.
|  PAIR OF CROUCHING MYTHICAL BEASTS Current and Past Exhibitions
Catalogue no. 17.PAIR OF CROUCHING MYTHICAL BEASTS. CHINA.WARRING STATES PERIOD.475 – 221 BC. L. 10 CMS, 4 INS. A pair of striking bronze mythical beasts, each animal cast in a crouched position with legs tucked underneath and tail curled around its haunches as if the animal is waiting to pounce, its head held low with nose upturned, teeth bared and ears flat, a central horn curling between the ears; their bodies exquisitely inlaid with decorative silver spirals. These bronze mythical beasts were probably used as weights. Compare to a bronze ox dating to the Warring States period, unearthed in 1956 in Shou County, Anhui province and illustrated as cat. no. 4-1-10, page 63, National Museum of Chinese History, Exhibition of Chinese History, Beijing: Morning Glory Publishers, 1998. PROVENANCE: Private English collection. Acquired by the owner’s father during employment with the British Foreign Service during the 1950s or 1960s.
|  ARCHAIC BRONZE RITUAL WINE VESSEL WITH SWING HANDLE (YOU) Current and Past Exhibitions
Catalogue no. 20.ARCHAIC BRONZE RITUAL WINE VESSEL WITH SWING HANDLE (YOU).CHINA.EASTERN ZHOU PERIOD.770 - 221 BC.H. 17.5 CMS, 6 7/8 INS. A fine archaic bronze ritual wine vessel and cover (you), the vessel of oval bodied form rising from a flared foot, the shoulder simply cast with a deep band of angular leiwen bordered by thread relief circles and set with two loops securing a single ropetwist handle set across the long axis, the domed cover decorated with similar patterning and surmounted by a rounded knop, the bronze bearing a greyish-green patina with some areas of brighter encrustation. For an earlier, Western Zhou example please see page 54, plate 21 in Julia White and Ronald Otsuka, Pathways to the Afterlife: Early Chinese Art from the Sze Hong Collection, Denver Art Museum, 1993. PROVENANCE: Private English collection. Acquired by the owner’s father during employment with the British Foreign Service during the 1950s or 1960s.
|  PAIR OF BRONZE RECUMBENT OXEN Current and Past Exhibitions
Catalogue no. 21.PAIR OF BRONZE RECUMBENT OXEN. CHINA.WARRING STATES PERIOD.475 – 221 BC.L. 8.5 CMS, 3 3/8 INS. . A fine pair of recumbent bronze oxen, each animal solidly cast with folded legs, their horned heads turned to one side and tails swished over their backs; their bodies exquisitely inlaid with decorative spirals of gold and silver. These bronze oxen were probably used as weights. Compare to an exquisite pair of bronze leopards with garnet eyes, unearthed in the tomb of Princess Dou Wan (2nd century BC) and illustrated on page 107, C. Blunden and M. Elvin, Cultural Atlas of China, Phaidon, 1983. PROVENANCE: Private English collection. Acquired by the owner’s father during employment with the British Foreign Service during the 1950s or 1960s.
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