Page 176 - Chinese Works of Art Chritie's Mar. 22-23 2018

The present bell appears to be one of the earliest known examples of two-tone bells. Zhong or nao bells,
with their lenticular shape, are naturally capable of emitting two diferent tones. However, it was not
until the middle Western Zhou dynasty, circa 10th-9th century BC, that the musicology and metallurgy
of making two-tone bells were matured. A bird motif at the bottom corner on the sides of a bell, such as
on the present bell, notes the striking point for a second tone. Demonstrating the intentional exploitation
of the zhong bells’ physical property of making two tones, the appearance of the bird motif on bells
is one of the most important criteria of ‘two-tone’ bells. See Shen Yingying, ‘Xizhou zaoqi yongzhong
shuangyin yu zhouzu sisheng wenti tantao’, Journal of the Central Conservatory of Music, Beijing, 2008,
no. 1, p. 44.
Bells of this type were made in graduated sizes to form a tuned set or ‘chime’, and the two-tone bells
allowed the Zhou people to form a wider range of notes with a certain number of bells. A few sets of
early Western Zhou yongzhong bells were found in archaeological settings. A set of three yongzhong of
very similar form and decoration, but lacking an indicative motif for a second tone, and of smaller size
(the largest 34 cm. high), were found in an early Western Zhou tomb of the State of Yu in Zhuyuangou,
Baoji, illustrated by Lu Liancheng and Hu Zhisheng, Baoji yuguo mudi, Beijing, 1988, pp. 96-97, pl. XLIII:1.
Another set of similar but smaller yongzhong bells (the largest 31.7 cm. high), also lacking the indicative
motif, was found in a tomb of the State of Yu in Rujiazhuang, Baoji, and illustrated by idem., pp. 281-82,
pl. CLV: 1.
A recent archaeological discovery has shed new light into the development of two-tone bells. In 2013,
archaeologists found four yongzhong bells, very similar to the present bell, in an early Western Zhou
tomb of the State of Zen in Yejiashan, Suizhou, two of which have ‘cloud-like’ indicative motifs for a
second tone, discussed and illustrated by Fang Qin, ‘Yejiashan M111haomu bianzhong chubu yanjiu’,
Journal of Wuhan Conservatory of Music, China, 2014, no. 1, pp. 92-93. The present bell shows the next
step of development of two-tone bells after the Yejiashan bells, since the bird motif was used as the
standard indicative motif in the middle Western Zhou period.
For examples of the middle Western Zhou two-tone bells, see a set of Xing bells, found in a hoard in
Zhuangbai village, Fufeng county, Shaanxi province, and illustrated in The Cultural Grandeur of the
Western Zhou Dynasty, Taipei, 2012, pp. 116-19, no. 45.

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