Suspension bracket for a bell

"The love of bells in Burma is somewhat remarkable. Every large [temple] has some dozens of them, of all sizes. The use of the bells is to direct attention to the fact of the lauds of the Buddha having been recited. The worshipper, when he has finished, goes to one of the bells and strikes it three times, to bring to the notice of the guardian spirits and the four worlds what he has been doing. There are always a number of deer's antlers and billets of wood lying near the bell for this purpose." So reported the journalist James George Scott in 1882, after several years of living in Burma.

Above the ring on each arm of this bracket is a composite humanbird creature of the type known in the Hindu-Buddhist world by the Sanskrit terms kinnara (male) and kinnari (female). Pairs of these gentle creatures were famously devoted to each other. The figures on this bracket are probably a male and a female.