Page 141 - Christie's, NYC Important Chinese Works Of Art Sept. 22-23, 2022

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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