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Tiger bells: various types

Tiger bell, from Mindanao, the Philippines

Design

Tiger bells are made of bronze. They differ from other bells because of several characteristics:

  • Musicologically they belong to the group of jingle bells or crotal bells: they have a hollow, globularly shaped body in which a small pellet of metal or stone is held (hence the often used term pellet bell). When the bell is shaken, the pellet hits the inside surface and thus the bell sounds. The bells have an opening, usually a split in the lower side of the body which allows the hollow body to act as a resonator. The hoop for suspending the bell is very often square or rectangular, sometimes round, sometimes trapezium shaped.

  • The characteristic that makes the tiger bells really stand out from other bells is the design. It is evidently a face with large eyes, a nose and a mouth or beak. My first association was that of a frog's head. Later, on a catalogue card of the Ethnological Museum in Leyden describing the bells on a baby carrier from the Kajan in Kalimantan, I found a quote from Prof. J J. M. de Groot saying that the face is a snake's head. According to him the Chinese characters on the 'forehead' could mean The Hing Company. He had seen these characters on the bells of the Lanun in The Philippines .

On other bells with the face-design other characters can be seen. These characters are visible on both sides, in the center of the top half of the bell. Very often these characters were corrupted by the casting process or are just meaningless scribbles. Around the characters and around the eyes and nose one finds curls and curves.

  • On the 'forehead' there is a Chinese character , the character Wang. It means 'emperor, royal' and is usually found on Chinese representations of tiger's heads such as this toy tiger.

  • The tiger bells on the back of the shaman's costume in the Musée de l'Homme in Paris (now Musée Quay Branly), France, were described as: Grelot; tête de tigre en laiton (transl.Crotal bells, tiger's head, made of brass. For the full description: click here).

  • In 1914 Russian ethnologist Sieroszewski quotes an explanation of the meaning of the ornamentation on a shaman's coat. The explanation was given by an old Yakut. About the bells on the costume he said:
    'Hobo', copper bells without tongues, suspended below the collar; like a crow's egg in size and shape and having on the tipper part a drawing of a fish's head. They are tied to the leather straps or to the metal loops.

Since the Wang character occurs since ancient times on bronze statues of tigers, such as the statue from the Chinese Chou-period (appr.500 B.C.), and because the description of the bells in the Musée de l'Homme clearly mentions the tiger's head, I decided to call these bells tiger bells to distinguish them from other bronze bells. But for reasons just as good they could be called fish bells, frog bells or snake bells. However since I introduced the term tiger bell in the first version of this report in 1976, it is now widely used and occurs in many web pages (and even in a computer game although the bell in the game is not a tiger bell). Therefore I will continue to use the term tiger bell until it is more correct to use another name.

Bronze statue of a tiger, the Wang character on its forehead
Middle Chou (946 - 600 B.C.); collection: Freer Gallery,
Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C.
Courtesy: Orientations Magazine, April 1972

Various types

Tiger bells vary in shape, size and design. The majority of the bells belong to one of four type groups: type A, type B, type C and type D. Some variations exist. Those variations that are inspired by the tiger bell but miss one or more of the typical characteristics are grouped into the Alternatives. Alternatives are inspired by, or resemble type A bells and type B bells.

Type A

Use
Type A tiger bells occur over a wide area and are used in many different ways: as a dance attribute (Pakistan, southern Philippines), as an amulet for adults, children and sometimes animals (goats and sheep in Afghanistan, cats with the Minangkabau in Sumatra, horses in Sumba and Malta). There is an evident link between tiger bells and shamanism. Shamans in Kalimantan, Sarawak, Mongolia, former Inner Mongolia and South Siberia have type A tiger bells on their costumes and attributes (while shamans from Tibet and Nepal use type B and type C tiger bells). One shaman's costume of the Solon is decorated with over 60 type A tiger bells of various sizes.

There are not very many records from mainland China. The examples known are tiger bells from the 19th century, and a belt, most likely from one of the ethnic minorities in southern China.

In recent years new tiger bells have been produced, sometimes copies of old type A tiger bells, sometimes variations inspired by the type A tiger bell. These bells are produced for trade to be sold in local Chinese communities and to tourists. So far they are reported in shops in Singapore, New York, Amsterdam and in shops on the internet. In China there is at least one industrial factory that produces several types of tiger bells, some based on the type A bell.


Set of four bells, collected in China, Steyl Mission Museum

Size and dimensions
Type A tiger bells occur in many sizes, from about 2.5 cm. to about 4,5 to 5 cm. in width. Most larger type A tiger bells have a square or rectangular hoop. Smaller type A tiger bells can have square or reactangular hoops but also trapezium shaped and even round hoops (see the shaman's belt from Kalimantan). There is one report of a tiger bell from the Iban, Sarawak, (see below) with a width of more than 6 cm. Two bells, reported in China and in South Korea are extremely large; these are however exceptions.

Tiger bell with a width of 4,5 cm. Iban (Sarawak).

One tiger bell, possibly from China, has a width of more than 6 cm. This is however an exeception.

Alternatives
Several type A tiger bells are probably locally made with variations in the design (as in Nepal, Syria and China). These variations could occur because the producer did not recognise the Chinese characters and considered them as meaningless, or possibly as floral motifs. Because of the whiskers, the face on the Syrian bell and on one of the Chinese bells bell looks more like a cat.

Small tiger bell with whiskers, probably from China

Viewed from the side the height of the bell is smaller than its width. This sets them apart from the bells of type B and type C of which the height is larger than the width.

Left: side view of type A
Right: side view of type B
Type A bell from Turkey

Type B

Bells from this group occur in large numbers on the southeast Asian mainland. Until now there are reports from Thailand, Tibet, Nepal, Bangladesh and Mongolia. In Thailand (Bangkok) these bells are sometimes painted gold. They have the following characteristics:

Type B tiger bells are roughly the size of an chicken's egg. The 'Wang' character on the 'forehead', so typical for the A type tiger bells, is missing. On the top half we can distinguish Chinese characters, sometimes one, sometimes two. The round character here means 'long life'. The surrounding curls and curves are not always there. The hoop is always round.


Tiger bells of type B bells occur by the hundreds. In Bangkok they can be bought in many handicraft and antique shops. They come 'from the north' but it is not clear what place or region that is. It is likely that these tiger bells are still produced.

Use
Type B tiger bells are used in many ways. In the Tibetan market in New Delhi (India) belts for yaks and horses with 10 to 12 of these bells were sold. One shopkeeper in Bangkok told me these bells were used as doorknobs. Nepalese and Tibetan shamans wear these bells on a chain across the chest as part of their costume. Type B bells of a smaller size are used as dog bells in Tibet and northern Thailand.

Size and dimensions
These bells are large, with diameters varying from about 3.5 cm. to 4.5 cm. and heights from 3.7 cm. to 5 cm. or more.

Examples of decorations on the 'forehead' of type B bells

Two Chinese characters

A circle shaped Chinese character


Meaningless curls?


The Chinese character for 'long life'
The bells are all from the Tibet - Mongolia area

Type C

These bells occur mainly in Nepal and Tibet. They have the following characteristics:

Typical C type bell from Nepal

Type C bells have the shape of B bells but are smaller. On most bells we see the Wang character, although sometimes corrupted. In general the eyes bulge more than the other types. Also the relief of the design and the Chinese characters is thick and relatively high on the surface of the bell. The hoop is always rectangular with rounded corners. One handicraft shop owner in Kathmandu, Nepal, told me that bells of this type were being produced in a workshop in Dehra Dun (Uttar Pradesh, near the border with Himachal Pradesh, India).

Use
Many of these bells are sold as souvenirs in handicraft and ethnography shops. They occur in larger numbers on belts for horses and yaks. On chest chains worn by shamans from Nepal and Tibet, they are sometimes found together with other bells.

Size and dimensions
The size of the C type bells is rather consistent: a width of about 3.4 cm. and a height of about 3.8 cm.

Examples of decorations on the 'forehead' of type C bells
The lines could be inspired by two characters. The remains of a 'Wang' chartacter are in the centre of the picture. These are clearly two Chinese characters.

Type D

These tiger bells are only reported in Vietnam, Burma and possibly Laos. Type D bells are more or less similar to smaller type A bells. The Wang character is missing and the design is less detailed. The bronze of these bells has a dark, almost black patina. The bells are used as horse bells (in Vietnam) and as a musical instrument (in Burma)



Horse bells, Fou tribe, Vietnam

Alternatives

These bells are mainly variations on the type A bells and the type B bells. Some of these variations could have been made locally for people who had a need for them but were for some reason unable to acquire the original bells. The majority is however produced in such large numbers that they are types in their own right. See also: Alternatives
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