Explore

Showing results

Hide images

Zhong with Lozenge Pattern (Attachment 2) (Bronze bell with studs)

Well preserved. Made of bronze with dark blue on the surface. The body of the bell is shaped like a combined pair of tiles. The mouth (yu) is curved. The two xian points are pointing inwards. Thick lines in low relief are used as frames to define the central panel (zheng), the areas (zhuan) between the studs, the gu and studs. There are 36 studs (raised half-spheres) on the surface of the body. The upper surface (wu) is flat and has a rectangular loop (niu) attached on top of it. The loop is decorated with S-shaped clouds and triangle cloud patterns. The wu is decorated with diamond-shaped lattice patterns, which are rarely seen. The gu is decorated with panchi patterns [in legend, panchi is a curled dragon without a horn]. Based on the style of decoration, this bell is likely to be bronze ware made by the Chu people during the Warring States period.

  • Measurements:Total height: 22.5cm, horizontal diameter of the wu: 9.6cm, distance between the two xian points: 10.7cm, thickness of the middle of the gu: 0.5cm, height of the niu: 4.8cm, vertical diameter of the wu: 7.5cm, distance between the two sides of the centre of the gu: 8.5cm, thickness of the sides of the gu: 0.9cm, width of the top of the niu: 2.5cm, mid-body length: 14.0cm, height of each stud: 0.3cm, weight: 0.8kg, width of the bottom of the niu: 3.2cm, length of the xian: 18.0cm