Page 29 - Christies IMportant Chinese Art Sept 26 2020 NYC

PROPERTY FROM AN IMPORTANT PRIVATE ASIAN COLLECTION
1511
THREE BRONZE BELLS, ZHONG
LATE SPRING AND AUTUMN PERIOD, 6TH-5TH CENTURY BC
Each is finely cast with bands of bosses formed by coiled serpents Music was of great importance in the court life of ancient China,
above a broad taotie band and surmounted by an inverted U-shaped and depictions of musicians playing instruments, both string and
handle cast with cowrie shells emerging from the mouths of recumbent percussion, can be seen in wood and pottery figures from the
mythical beasts. Han through the Tang dynasty, and as decoration on bronzes of
9º in. (23.5 cm.), 7æ in. (19.7 cm.), 7¿ (18 cm.) high, stand (3) Eastern Zhou date. A set of wood musicians with stringed and wind
instruments from the 2nd century BC tomb at Mawangdui, Changsha,
Hunan province, is illustrated in Music in the Age of Confucius,
$40,000-60,000
J. So (ed.), Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery,
Washington DC, 2000, p. 19, fig. 1.6. Figures shown playing a set of
PROVENANCE:
Acquired in Hong Kong, 1992. bells and stone chimes is shown in a reproduction of decoration on
a bronzehu from Baihuatan, Chengdu, Sichuan province, p. 20, fig.
1.7. With the discovery in 1977 of the tomb of the Marquis Yi of Zeng,
春秋晚期 青銅盤龍紋獸鈕鐘一組三件
which contained an intact set of sixty-five bells, as well as a set of
stone chimes, similar to those shown on the hu, far more has been
learned about the importance and use of bells in ancient China. As
Bells of this type were made in graduated sizes to form a set or R. Bagley states in his chapter on percussion, ibid, pp. 35-63, "no
'chime'. Each bell when struck on two different locations at the mouth, other instrument tells us so much about musical performance, music
emitted two different tones. theory, and acoustic technology". He goes on to point out that "sets of
bells were both aurally and visually the most prominent instruments
of musical ensembles" in ancient China, but outside of China were
unknown.

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