yong zhong BM-1936-1118.5

Period:Eastern Zhou dynasty Production date:6thC BC-5thC BC
Materials:bronze
Technique:
Subjects:dragon taotie
Dimensions:Height: 31 centimetres Width: 15 centimetres (max)

Description:
Bronze bell in the form of yong zhong, with four types of decoration. Triangular motifs of circa on the top end and the protruding ring around the shank. Tightly packed interlaced dragons on the flat top at the closed end of the zhong. Compresses spirals in the horizontal registers between the bosses. A upside-down taotie face, constructed from snakes, in the middle of the striking area above the mouth of the zhong, vertically sandwiched by two part of inscriptions on both sides.
IMG


Comments:Rawson 1987:The inscription on the bell, which is one of twelve or thirteen known examples from a single set, records the manufacture of the bells by Lü Qi, a minister of the state of Jin, to perform sacrifices to his ancestors. The inscriptions on the bells describe the set as comprising eight sub-sets. We have a better knowledge of what such a complex of bells involved from the magnificent set of suxty-five found in the tomb of the Zeng Hou Yi (Marquis Yi of Zeng) at Sui Xian in Hubei province. By analogy with that find the Lü Qi bells probably numbered sixty-three. The inscriptions say that the bells were accompanied by sets of muscial chimes. The bells are said to have been found at Ronghe in Shanxi province.The present bell bears three different types of decoration. On the flat top are tightly packed interlaced dragons, current in the mid-seventh to mid-sixth centuries (Fig. 22c). Compresses spirals, apparently stamped into the moulds, fill the registers between the bosses. At the mouth of the bell a taotie face lies upside down. It has blank eyes and therefore appears not so much a creature as a filling device. Rubbing no. 14 illustrates its construction from snakes similar to those seen on some sixth-century bronzes (Fig. 22a).Further Bibliography:三代1.56.2，綴遺2.7.1，周金1.15前，貞松1.18，希古1.15.1，大系錄273.2，小校1.75，猷氏Ⅱfig17，集成00233，總集7143Findspot: 同治初年山西榮河縣后土祠旁河岸（愙齋）Rest of set in Shanghai Museum