Klang Bell

Klang Bell

Bronze bell from Klang, Malaysia on display at the British Museum
Material	Bronze
Size	58 cm High, 31 cm Diameter
Weight	7.4 kg
Created	2nd Century BC
Present location	British Museum, London
Registration	1949,0715.1

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

Found with a number of iron tools in the city of Klang, the cast bronze artefact is one of the only two examples of its type known; the other being from Battambang in Cambodia. Dated by archaeologists to the 2nd Century BC, it is probably a ceremonial object related to the bronze drums known from many parts of Southeast Asia and southern China. It was acquired by the British Museum in 1949.

Description

The Klang Bell has a high, narrow body crowned by a cup-like lid. The entire bell is decorated with vertical bands of rectangles composed of double spirals with central eye 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

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  Detail of the bell from Klang

References

Further reading

• 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.