Cast Bronze or Brass Ritual Bell, Sarawak (Malaysia) or Brunei, 19th –early 20th century

Cast Bronze or Brass Ritual Bell

This unusual item was collected in Sarawak in the 1960s and is a heavy, well-cast bell with a fierce naga-type head, and bands of lotus petals in high relief on the body of the bell. A clapper is inside.

The styling is similar to bronzes produced on Java during the late Majapahit period of the 14th and 15th centuries, and possibly shows knowledge of these bronzes , but the scale and type of casting is similar to all the other casting of large ceremonial kettles, canons (

lantaka) and gongs produced in Sarawak, Brunei and elsewhere on Brunei during the 19th and 20th centuries. These large-scale bronze items were produced by indigenous casters and were used by local people as stores of wealth, for display purposes and as a means of exchange.

The bell here is in excellent condition.

Chin, L., Cultural Heritage of Sarawak, Sarawak Museum, 1980.

Lunsingh Scheurleer, P., & M.J. Klokke,

Ancient Indonesian Bronzes: A Catalogue of the Exhibition in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam with a General Introduction, E.J. Brill, 1988.