Xiangtan Zhong (Bronze bell with studs)

Preserved in good condition. One stud is missing. Made of bronze, with green colour on the surface. The body of the bell is shaped like a combined pair of tiles. The upper surface(wu) is flat and the two xian points are straight. The mouth(yu) is curved. The handle (yong) is connected to the body of the bell and is hollow in the middle. It has an oval cross-section, bigger around the top and smaller at the bottom. The bell has an elongated handle (yong) on the top. The handle has a raised collar (xuan) and a small lug (xuanchong) attached to it, which is used for suspending the bell [on a wooden frame] when being played. Linked-pearl patterns are used as frames to define the central panel (zheng), the areas (zhuan) between the studs, the studs and the gu. No traces of polishing are found inside the body. There are no lips around the mouth (yu) of the bell. There are 36 studs of two-tiered columnar shape on the body of the bell. The xuan and the areas between the studs are decorated with thin-line cloud and thunder patterns in low relief. The upper surface (wu) is decorated with incised thick-line cloud and thunder patterns.