Page 205 - The Golden Age of Chinese Archaeology: Celebrated Discoveries from the People’s Republic of China

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Bronze bo bell exterior lip with a mallet. The bells that assumed
greatest prominence in the subsequent Zhou pe-
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Height 33 (13), weight 12.6 (27 / 4)
riod, yongzhong, combined features of both earlier
Late Shang Period (c. 1200-1050 BCE)
From Dayangzhou, Xin'gan, Jiangxi Province southern types. Yongzhong were suspended in the
same orientation as the bo, mouth down, but re-
Jiangxi Provincial Museum, Nanchang tained the shank and striking method of nao. Loop
suspension bells descended from Shang bo were
During the Zhou period, chimes of bronze bells made throughout much of the Zhou period, albeit
assumed a key role in the elaborate web of status less commonly than yongzhong.
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and ceremonial relations governing the lives of the This bo is elliptical in cross section and wider
elite. The Shang period prototypes for these musi- at the mouth than at the top. Its two convex faces
cal bells include two products of mid-Yangzi and are decorated with a horned mask below a whorl
Gan Yangzi regional cultures: a large bell standing device; intaglio lines trace curls and spirals, while
on its shank with mouth open at the top (nao), and fragments of a dragon's body float to either side.
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the much rarer type seen in the example here. This The edges feature large, hooked flanges; a bird
bell type, conventionally called bo, was designed to facing outward rests on the top flange at each side.
be hung from its loop; it may have had a clapper The swallowtail motif observed on the four-legged
suspended within through the opening in the top. yan and round ding (cats. 60-61) frames the top
By contrast, the large nao type was mounted on and bottom margins and encircles the whorl as well
a stand; its tones were produced by striking the (see fig. i).

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