Page 140 - Christie's, NYC Important Chinese Works Of Art Sept. 22-23, 2022
P. 140

Heavily cast gilt-bronze bells of this type, known as bianzhong, took their   Yin, negative note. The four repeated bells of lower octaves, thus making up
                                                                                                                                 inspiration from archaic bronzes of the Western Zhou dynasty (1100-771 BC).   the total of sixteen, are pei yize, pei nanlu, pei wuyi, pei yingzhong.
                                                                                                                                 The best known archaic prototypes are those excavated from the tomb of the
                                                                                                                                 Marquis Zeng, now in the Hubei Provincial Museum, illustrated by Lothar von   All sixteen bianzhong would have been suspended in two tiers of eight
                                                                                                                                 Falkenhausen, Suspended Music: Chime Bells in the Culture of Bronze Age   attached to tall wooden frames, as depicted in a court painting by Guiseppe
                                                                                                                                 China, California, 1993, p. 6. In the Qing dynasty, the imperial court closely   Castiglione entitled: 'Imperial Banquet in Wanshu Garden', illustrated by
                                                                                                                                 followed Confucian ideals as set out in ancient Chinese classics such as the   Chuimei Ho and Bennet Bronson, Splendors of China's Forbidden City, The
                                                                                                                                 Book of the Zhou (Zhou Li) which advocated that rituals should commence   Field Museum, Chicago, p. 52, pl. 42. The bells are arranged in accordance
                                                                                                                                 with music. In the Qing dynasty, bianzhong were produced for the court and   to their thickness and respective musical tone. A carillion of sixteen bells is
                                                                                                                                 became an essential part of court ritual musical instruments. They were   illustrated in Life in the Forbidden City of Qing Dynasty, The Forbidden City
                                                                                                                                 played during ceremonies at the imperial altars (in particular, the Temple of   Publishing House, 2007, p. 50, no. 50.
                                                                                                                                 Heaven and Temple of Agriculture) and during formal banquets and state rites.
                                                                                                                                                                                     There appear to be two groups of these gilt-bronze bells dating to the Kangxi
                                                                                                                                 The present bell is part of a graduated set of sixteen, each of which is cast   period: the first, dated to the 52nd year (1713) and the second group to the
                                                                                                                                 with varied thicknesses to provide a range of twelve standard musical tones   54th year (1715). Examples of bells from the 52nd year of Kangxi include a
                                                                                                                                 with four additional repeated notes in lower octaves. Each bell is cast on one   group of five in the Audrey B. Love Collection sold at Christie's New York, 20
                                                                                                                                 side with its respective musical tons, opposite the reign mark, and together   October 2004, lot 455. Three other bells have been sold at auction: a guxi
                                                                                                                                 they appear in the following sequence: 1st, huangzhong; 2nd, dalu; 3rd, taicu;   bell (5th tone), Christie's New York, 29 November 1984, lot 554; a lingzhong
                                                                                                                                 4th, jiazhong; 5th, guxi; 6th, zhonglu; 7th, ruibin; 8th, lingzhong; 9th, yize; 10th,   bell (8th tone), Sotheby's London, 30 March 1978, lot 60; and a wushe bell
                                                                                                                                 nanlu (as cast on the present bell); 11th, Wuyi; and 12th, yingzhong. In Chinese   (11th tone) from the Lord and Lady Hesketh collection was sold at Sotheby's
                                                                                                                                 musicology, the twelve main tones alternately provide a Yang, positive, and   Hong Kong, 9 October 2007, lot 1327.



























































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