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Ancient bell found in Selangor, Malaysia
Klang Bell
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Bronze bell from Klang, Malaysia on display at the British Museum
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Material
| Bronze
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Size
| 58 cm High, 31 cm Diameter
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Weight
| 7.4 kg
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Created
| 200 BC
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Present location
| British Museum
,
London
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Registration
| 1949,0715.1
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The
Klang Bell
is an ancient bronze
bell
found in the city of
Klang
,
Selangor
state, western
Malaysia
. Estimated to date from the late
Iron Age
, the bell is a rare object of its
genre
and since 1949 has been part of the
British Museum
's
Asian Collections
.
[1]
Discovery
[
edit
]
Found with a number of iron tools in the city of
Klang
, the cast
bronze
artefact was one of three unearthed there; it is very similar to other bells that have been found in
Battambang
in
Cambodia
.
[2]
One bell has been dated to AD 150.
[3]
Description
[
edit
]
The Klang Bell has a high, narrow body crowned by a cup-like
lid
and was designed to be worn by an elephant.
[2]
The entire bell is decorated with vertical bands of rectangles composed of double
spirals
with central eyes
motifs
. In the lower part of the bell, three irregularly fashioned rows lie above a plain band. The bell is decorated in a similar way to the
Dong Son drums
that were produced in large quantities in
Vietnam
and elsewhere in southeast Asia between 600 BC and the third century AD, and are some of the region's finest examples of metalworking from this period.
Gallery
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Bell"
.
The British Museum
.
- ^
a
b
Linehan, W. (1951). "Traces of a Bronze Age culture associated with Iron Age implements in the regions of Klang and the Tembeling, Malaya".
Journal of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society
.
24
(3 (156)): 1?59.
JSTOR
41502997
.
- ^
bin Haji Taha, Adi (1983). "Recent archaeological discoveries in Peninsular Malaysia 1976-1982".
Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society
.
56
(1 (244)): 47?63.
JSTOR
41492946
.
Further reading
[
edit
]
- J. Rawson, Chinese bronzes: art and ritual (London, The British Museum Press, 1987)
- L. von Falkenhausen, Suspended Music: Chime-Bells in the Culture of Bronze Age China (Los Angeles, 1993)
- Harris, Mark (1990).
National Museum, Kuala Lumpur: History and culture of Malaysia
. Kuala Lumpur: Syarikat S. Abdul Majeed, Pub. Division. p. 88 pages.
ISBN
978-983-9629-15-6
.
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