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An Extremely Rare Imperial Gilt Bronze BellRosemary Scott, International Academic Director Asian ArtThis very rare gilt bronze bell is cast with a date of the 55th year of the Kangxi reign – equivalent to AD 1716, and would have been one of a carillon of 16 bells. Such bells were decorated either with dragons, as in the case of the current bell, or with the eight trigrams. The loop on the top of the bell – from which it would have been suspended on a frame – is cast in the shape of a dragon, depicted with a head at either end. This dragon is Pulao蒲牢, one of the nine sons of the dragon, who was believed to be quite small in size but with a roar that could shake heaven and earth. Pulao was believed to roar particularly loudly when he saw a whale, and thus the instrument used to strike the bells is often shaped like a whale to suggest the loudest sound.These magnificent bells would have been suspended in two tiers of eight, attached to a tall lacquered wooden frame, and were part of the assemblages required on certain formal occasions at court. The frame holding the bells was usually decorated at either end of the top horizontal beam with a dragon, while the vertical poles of the frame stood on felines. A carillon of these bells is depicted in a court painting by Guiseppe Castiglione (Lang Shining) entitled, 'Imperial Banquet in Wanshu Garden', (illustrated by Chuimei Ho and B. Bronson, Splendors of China's Forbidden City, Chicago, London, 2004, p. 52, pl. 42). The Wanshu Garden was in the imperial palace at Chengde. Another carillon of such bells can also be seen on the terrace in front of the Hall of Supreme Harmony in the Forbidden City, Beijing, in a scroll painting depicting the wedding of the Guangxu Emperor in 1889 (illustrated in Daily Life in the Forbidden City, Wan Yi, Wang Shuqing and Lu Yanzhen (eds.) Rosemary Scott and Erica Shipley (translators), Viking, Harmondsworth, England, 1988, pp. 46-7, pl. 61).Bells of this type were known as bianzhong 編鐘 and were usually assembled in sets of sixteen, providing twelve musical tones with four repeated notes in lower or higher octaves. The twelve Chinese musical tones are arranged in the following sequence: Huangzhong (黃鍾 1st), Dalu (大呂 2nd), Taicu (太蔟 3rd), Jiazhong (夾鍾 4th), Guxi (5th), Zhonglu (6th), Ruibin (7th), Lingzhong (8th), Yize (9th), Nanlu (南呂 10th), Wuyi (11th), and Yingzhong (12th). In Chinese musicology, the twelve main tones alternately provide a Yang, positive, and Yin, negative notes. The four repeated bells of lower octaves, making up the total of sixteen, are Pei Yize, Pei Nanlu 倍南呂, Pei Wuyi, and Pei Yingzhong. The current bell bears a cast inscription identifying it as 倍南呂 Pei Nanlu, The bells were arranged in accordance to their musical notes, which was determined by their thickness. The height of the bells in a set did not vary, only the thickness. The current bell was one of the heaviest and would have been hung from the lower horizontal beam of the frame, third from the right. The bells were cast from bronze then hand finished to achieve precisely the right pitch before being gilded. While a small number of similar bells are known, the heavier pei bells are very rare. Bells dating to the 52nd and 54th years of the Kangxi reign are also more frequently found than those dating to the 55th year, inscribed on the current bell. However, one other bell also decorated with dragons and dated to the 55th year of Kangxi, was included in the exhibition Treasures from the Palace Museum, Tokyo, 1982, cat.no. 3. Bianzhong were essential in conducting Confucian ritual ceremonies at the Imperial altars and other state rituals, including ascension ceremonies when a new emperor took the throne, formal banquets and other court assemblies, and during processions of the Imperial Guard. They were part of a group of musical instruments that were required by court protocol to play the dignified music which formed an important part of such significant occasions. This music was divided into two types and played by two sets of musicians. One was the Zhonghe shaoyue 中和韶樂, which was known as the Eight Tones, since the sixteen types of musical instrument that took part were made from eight different materials - metal, stone, silk, bamboo, gourds, pottery, leather and wood. The Zhonghe shaoyue musicians and their instruments were usually placed within the area in which the ceremony was taking place. Zhonghe shaoyue music could also include singers. The frame from which the bells hung was placed to one side, and a frame from which hung sixteen jade bianqing chiming stones was placed on the other. The second group of musicians was associated with Danbi dayue丹陛大樂 music and they were usually stationed within an appropriate gate. No singers accompanied Danbi dayue musicians.Two sets of sixteen bells dated to the Kangxi reign and decorated with dragons in the Palace Museum, Beijing, have been published. The first set, dated to the 52nd year of the Kangxi reign (1713) was included in the 2004 Chateau de Versailles exhibition, Kangxi - Empereur de Chine, 1662-1722, and illustrated in the catalogue, p. 17, no. 2. Another set, slightly more angular and also dated to the 52nd year of Kangxi, was included in the 2006 Royal Academy of Arts exhibition, China - The Three Emperors, 1662-1795 and is illustrated in the catalogue, p. 123, no. 32. A further complete carillon of 16 bells decorated with trigrams, rather than dragons, and dated to the 52nd year of Kangxi (1713), also in the Palace Museum, Beijing was included in the 1996-1997 Musee du Petit Palais exhibition, La Cite Interdite - Vie publique et privee des empereurs de Chine, 1644-1911, and illustrated in the catalogue, p. 171 no. 49. A pair of Kangxi bells with dragon decoration, dated to the 54th year, and inscribed as Jiazhong 4th tone and Wuyi 11th tone, were sold by Christie’s Hong Kong 27th May 2009, lot 1818. Two groups of five bells decorated with trigrams and dated to the Kangxi period from the C. Ruxton and Audrey B. Love collection, were sold at Christie's New York, 20 October 2004, lots 455 and 456. The first, with an inscription dated to the 52nd of Kangxi (1713); bearing the 7th, 8th, 10th, 11th and 12th tones respectively. The second group dated to the 54th year of Kangxi (1715); bearing the 5th, 6th, 10th, 11th and 12th tones respectively. A Ruyi (11th) tone bell from the 52nd year of the Kangxi period from the Lord and Lady Hesketh Collection was sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 9 October 2007, lot 1327, while another bell dated to the 54th year of Kangxi and inscribed Wushe (equivalent to A-sharp), was sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 26 April 1999, lot 520. A similar carillon of sixteen bells dating to the Qianlong reign and preserved in the Forbidden City, Beijing, is illustrated in Daily Life in the Forbidden City, op. cit., p. 39, pl. 43. Another set of sixteen Qianlong bells, decorated with trigrams, is preserved in the Confucian Temple, Beijing (illustrated by Bruce Doar in ‘The Preservation of Beijing’s Confucian Temple’, Orientations, vol. 26, July/August 1995, p. 63). It has been noted that in 1741, the Qianlong Emperor set up a Music Division for court music and specified melodies of his choice for the various court functions that prevailed until the early 20th century (see Splendors of China's Forbidden City, op. cit., p. 52). A bell of dragon design, closely related to that of the current bell, dated to the 8th year of the Qianlong reign (AD 1743) and of Zhonglu, 6th, tone, was sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 27 May 2008, lot 1540. Another Qianlong bell with dragon decoration, also dated to 1743, but of Nanlu, 10th tone, was sold by Christie’s Hong Kong, 3 June, 2015, lot 3119. The Qianlong bell is more rounded and is somewhat less condensed in design than on the present examples, but the depiction of the dragons and decorative bands compare very closely. Two further comparable dragon-decorated bells, dated to 1744, are in the Palace of Fountainebleau, illustrated in Le Musee chinois de I'imperatrice Eugenie, 1994, p. 47 fig. 34. From the illustration, these bells appear to be incised with the characters, Nanlu, the 10th tone, and Yingzhong, the 12th tone. The Fountainebleau bells are cast with angular shoulders and the characters denoting their musical tones are incised, rather than cast, as on the present bell. A gold Kangxi bell of similar design to the current bell, dated by inscription to the 54th year of the Kangxi reign, is in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing. This gold bell is inscribed 黃鍾 huangzhong, indicating that it is the first in the musical sequence (illustrated in Zhongguo meishu quanji. Gongyi meishu bian, 10, Beijing, 1987, p. 92, pl. 176). A carillon of sixteen gold bells bearing the marks ‘Qianlong wushiwu nianzhi’ (made in 55th year of Qianlong reign, equivalent to AD 1790), is also preserved in the Palace Museum, Beijing (illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum – 57 - Treasures of Imperial Court, Hong Kong, 2004, pp. 6-7, no. 5). Being gold, rather than gilded bronze, they would not have produced clear notes when struck and were thus symbolic and for display, rather than for musical use. This gold carillon was given to the Qianlong Emperor by officials in celebration of his eightieth birthday. It appears that the last Qing emperor, Puyi, used these bells as lien against a loan from Beijing's Yanyue Bank, but they were returned to the Palace in 1949 (discussed ibid, p. 6).
AN EXTREMELY RARE IMPERIAL GILT-BRONZE 'DRAGON' RITUAL BELL, BIANZHONG
KANGXI CAST MARKS, CORRESPONDING TO 1716, AND OF THE PERIOD
Details
AN EXTREMELY RARE IMPERIAL GILT-BRONZE 'DRAGON' RITUAL BELL, BIANZHONG
KANGXI CAST MARKS, CORRESPONDING TO 1716, AND OF THE PERIOD
The bell is exquisitely cast with a handle shaped as a pair of dragons. Each beast is powerfully modelled with its mouth open to reveal its tongue between sharp fangs, with two long horns extending back over its head along a finely incised mane, and the large claws clutching the barrel-shaped body of the bell. The sides of the bell are finely cast in high relief around the mid-section, depicting two further dragons striding amidst cloud scrolls and waves clutching a flaming pearl, divided by two rectangular panels, one inscribed with the characters Kangxi wu shi wu nian zhi, 'Made in the 55th year of Kangxi reign', and the other with the characters pei (usually pronounced as bei) nan lu, indicating that this is one of the bells for lower octaves.
12 in. (30.5 cm.) high
KANGXI CAST MARKS, CORRESPONDING TO 1716, AND OF THE PERIOD
The bell is exquisitely cast with a handle shaped as a pair of dragons. Each beast is powerfully modelled with its mouth open to reveal its tongue between sharp fangs, with two long horns extending back over its head along a finely incised mane, and the large claws clutching the barrel-shaped body of the bell. The sides of the bell are finely cast in high relief around the mid-section, depicting two further dragons striding amidst cloud scrolls and waves clutching a flaming pearl, divided by two rectangular panels, one inscribed with the characters Kangxi wu shi wu nian zhi, 'Made in the 55th year of Kangxi reign', and the other with the characters pei (usually pronounced as bei) nan lu, indicating that this is one of the bells for lower octaves.
12 in. (30.5 cm.) high
Provenance
From a private German collection, acquired in the early 20th century.
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