GHANTA - TIbet/China, ritual bell.

Ghanta - TIbet/China, ritual bell, two-piece cast metal, partly gilded, the bell body decorated with surrounding decorative friezes: on the shoulder below a wreath of narrow petals eight large lotus petals with inscribed Tibetan bija syllables (of eight goddesses), horizontally placed vajras framed underneath rows of pearls, lion's head garlands running around the middle, at the lower edge there is a chain of vertically arranged vajras between two pearl bands, the always separately worked handle with a longevity vase at the base, the head of the goddess of transcendent wisdom Prajnaparamita appears above it with eye-catching earrings and a large eight-leaved Crown that carries a moon disk on which the half-vajra rests. This consists of four bars that spring from stylized Macara mouths, height approx. 15.5 cm, weight approx. 214 g.