The bell as seen in the British Museum. Image credit: Gryffindor, Wikimedia Commons.
WHEN many think of the British Museum in London and its collection of Asian artifacts, many tend to think of the millennia-old history of India, China and Japan or the ancient civilisations that emerged in Cambodia or Indonesia.
Having said that, it has been said over the years that the British Museum also has an ancient bell from Selangor in its collection. Is this true?
VERDICT:
TRUE
Yes, this is in fact true - and this is listed on the British Museum's website as being part of its collection of artifacts.
On where the bell was found, the Museum says that it was found in Selangor, listing that it was found specifically in "Southeast Asia: Malaysia: West Malaysia: Selangor."
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As for how it obtained the bell in question, it says that it was transferred from the British Museum (Natural History).
"This suggests that the piece arrived at the museum prior to the separation of the British and Natural History Museums in 1885," it says.
As for the bell itself, it is described as a "bronze bell with (a) high, narrow body surmounted by a cup-like upper area above rounded shoulders."
"The whole is decorated with vertical rows of rectangles containing conjoined double spirals, each spiral with a central 'eye motif'. At the mouth of the bell are three denticulate rows above a plain band," it adds.
The Museum then says that the bell was produced at a point around the 2nd Century BC and adds that it is 58cm tall, 31.3cm wide and weighs 7.4kg.
SOURCE:
https://www.britishmuseum.org/
