Page 70 - Sotheby's Hong Kong Important Chinese Works of Art, Oct. 9, 2022

3634

PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF QUINCY CHUANG 清康煕
AN IMPERIAL GILT-BRONZE TEMPLE BELL, 御製鎏金銅蒲牢鈕八卦紋「太簇」編鐘
BIANZHONG, 《康煕五十二年製》款
MARK AND PERIOD OF KANGXI, DATED TO
THE 52ND YEAR, CORRESPONDING TO 1713
cast with two inscriptions within rectangular cartouches
reading Kangxi wushier nian zhi (made in the 52nd year of
Kangxi), and taicu, denoting its musical pitch, wood stand
h. 30.8 cm
HK$ 700,000-900,000
US$ 89,500-115,000

Bianzhong were produced for the court during the Qing Agriculture in Beijing. A full carillon of bells with the same
dynasty (1644-1911) as an essential component of Confucian design and date is in the collection of the Palace Museum,
ritual ceremonies at the imperial altars, formal banquets Beijing, included in the exhibition La Cité interdite; Vie
and processions. The music produced by these instruments publique et privée des empereurs de Chine (1644-1911),
was believed to facilitate communication between humans Musée du Petit Palais, Paris, 1996, cat. no. 49.
and deities. Gilt-bronze bells of this type were assembled For similar bells sold at auction, see a set of five – bei nanlu,
in sets of sixteen and produced twelve musical tones, with ruibin, linzhong, wushe, and yingzhong – formerly in the C.
four bei tones repeated in a lower octave: bei yize, bei Ruxton and Audrey B. Love Collection and sold at Christie’s
nanlu, bei wushe, bei yingzhong, huangzhong, dalu, taicu, New York, 20th October 2004, lot 455; a guxi bell sold in the
jiazhong, guxi, zhonglu, ruibin, linzhong, yize, nanlu, wushe, same rooms, 30th November 1984, lot 554; a wushe bell sold
yingzhong. These bells were attached to tall wooden frames in these rooms, 9th October 2007, lot 1327; a ruibin example
in two rows of eight arranged from low to high octaves, sold in our London rooms, 5th November 2014, lot 16; and
with the yang tones on the upper rack and the yin on the a further bei yingzhong bell sold at Christie's London, 30th
lower rack. Giuseppe Castiglione (1688-1766) depicts such October 1952, lot 84, and again in our New York rooms, 23rd
an arrangement of bells in his painting Imperial Banquet March 2022, lot 251. For a taicu dated to the 54th year of
in Wanshu Garden (c. 1755), included in the exhibition the Kangxi reign (1715), compare one sold in our New York
Splendors of China's Forbidden City. The Glorious Reign rooms, 19th March 1997, lot 25.
of Emperor Qianlong, The Field Museum, Chicago, 2004,
cat. no. 101. Unlike archaic bells which ranged in size, Qing The dragons surmounting this bell are known as pulao, which
dynasty bells were cast in equal size but varied in thickness according to ancient Chinese legend is one of the nine sons
– the thicker the casting, the higher the tone of the bell. To of the dragon. The myth alleges that Pulao resided close to
ensure the exact pitch, these bronze cast bells were hand- the shore while his archenemy, the whale, lived in the ocean.
finished before gilding. Whenever the whale would come to attack, pulao would
sound a roar. The structure of a bell is thus associated with
The present bell bears an inscription identifying it as taicu, this legend; the clash of the bell, Pulao, with the striker, the
from the 52nd year of the Kangxi Emperor’s reign (1713). whale, would result in the dragon producing its loud ringing
Bells of this form, dated to different years of the Kangxi roar.
reign, are believed to have been created for the Temple of

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