The Horniman Museum

Short newspaper article presenting one new addition to the Horniman Museum collection: a Japanese Buddhist temple bell suspended in a red wood stand, displayed in the very centre of the Museum’s entrance. It was taken from a Buddhist temple and, during the first half of the 19th century, it was still in use as part of Buddhist ritual. Japanese bells have no clappers, but they are struck on a specific spot called “the strike spot”, easily noticeable. The bell is beautifully ornamented with circular panels, butterflies, floral designs and dragon heads. The height of the bell is one foot and nine inches, making it a great example of Japanese bronze casting.

Collection Information

These objects are only a part of our collections, of which there are more than 350,000 objects. This information comes from our collections database. Some of this is incomplete and there may be errors. This part of the website is also still under construction, so there may be some fields repeated or incorrectly formatted information.

The database sometimes uses language taken from historical documents to help research, which may now appear outdated and even offensive. The database also includes information on objects that are considered secret or sacred by some communities.

If you have any further information about objects in our collections or can suggest corrections to our information, please contact us: enquiry@horniman.ac.uk