Liling Nao with Studs (Bronze nao with conical studs)

Well preserved. Made of bronze, with light green and some red copper colours on the surface. The body of the bell is shaped like a combined pair of tiles. The instrument is long and thin with the length of the xian being almost the same as the distance between the two xian points. The underside (wu) is flat and the two xian points are straight. Underneath the body, there is a cylinder-shaped handle (yong), which is thick and short, hollow in the middle and is connected to the inside of the body. The yong bears a raised collar called xuan. The mouth (yu) is curved slightly. The areas (zhuan) between the studs are decorated with cloud patterns in thick lines. This type of zhuan design first appeared at this point in history. The body has 36 studs on it; each one is quite short. The middle of the gu is decorated with cloud patterns in thick lines. Round-dot patterns form the frame of a trapezium shaped panel in the middle section of the body, which was later called a zheng. At this point in history, the round-dot patterns have made this section more defined, getting closer to the final form of the zheng. There are C-shaped patterns on the xuan.