Zhong with Long Studs (Bronze bell with studs)

One end of the bell is broken. Made of Bronze, with dark grey colour on the surface. The body of the bell is thin and long, and is shaped like a combined pair of tiles. Lines in low relief are used as frames to define the central panel, the studs, the areas (zhuan) between the studs and the gu. The upper surface (wu) is flat and the two xian points are straight. The body has 36 long columnar studs. The mouth (yu) is curved. The tubular handle (yong) has a raised collar (xuan) and a wide lug (xuanchong) attached to it. The xuan has four studs and is decorated with cloud and thunder patterns. The upper surface (wu) is decorated with thick lined S-shaped patterns. The areas (zhuan) between the studs are decorated with wavy patterns. Each line is made up of four fine lines. The design is likely to be a simplified version of a double-headed animal mask. The gu is covered with cloud patterns made of four close lines which together appear like a single thick line. There is no decoration on the back, but there is a carved inscription with 10 characters.