bell(part of)
- Museum number
- As1986,04.25
- Description
-
Part of a cow bell. This hinged and roughly carved piece would have formed the clapper of a wooden bell. It consists of two pieces joined by a bent iron nail.
- Production date
- 20thC(mid)
- Dimensions
-
Length: 22 centimetres
-
Weight: 61 grammes
-
Width: 3.60 centimetres
- Curator's comments
- Part of a cow bell, carved in the style of Shan (Tai) people. From comments made by Baas Terwiel 28/03/2008.
Leslie Milne in her book 'Shans at Home: Burma's Shan States in the Early 1900s' provides a diagram of such a bell on p 46 (White Lotus Press2001 edition). She goes on to write "The wooden ones (bells) are quite original in shape; they have two tongues, which strike the bell on the outside. Sometimes they are carved, generally with rude outline of a monkey. Shans are always unwilling to sell their wooden cow-bells. They cannot be bought in the bazaars, and each man carves his own, and even when offered a sum far in advance of their value they will not part with them; they fear that if they do so bad luck may come to their cattle."
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1986
- Department
- Asia
- Registration number
- As1986,04.25