id: 154710 accession number: 1989.3 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1989.3 updated: 2022-06-14 09:01:18.139000 Bell (Lai Zhong), c. 800–700 BC. China, Shaanxi province, Meixian, Western Zhou dynasty (c. 1046-771 BC). Bronze; overall: 70.3 x 37 x 26.6 cm (27 11/16 x 14 9/16 x 10 1/2 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund 1989.3 title: Bell (Lai Zhong) title in original language: 逨鐘 series: series in original language: creation date: c. 800–700 BC creation date earliest: -810 creation date latest: -690 current location: 241A Arts of Ancient China creditline: Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund copyright: --- culture: China, Shaanxi province, Meixian, Western Zhou dynasty (c. 1046-771 BC) technique: bronze department: Chinese Art collection: China - Zhou Dynasty type: Metalwork find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS --- measurements: Overall: 70.3 x 37 x 26.6 cm (27 11/16 x 14 9/16 x 10 1/2 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: inscription: Lai proclaimed: "Great and illustrious was my august late father who made his heart clean following the disciplined virtue of his forefathers and dutifully served the past king. I, Lai, now succeed him in service and dare not fail. Respectfully, from dawn to dusk I will earnestly--even unto death--serve the Son of Heaven, taking as a model the obligation of my forefathers." I, Lai, was presented with many things. Then came the [king's] gracious command: "Manage the fisheries and forests of the realm." "I, Lai, dare to respond to the great, illustrious, sagely, and gracious favor of the Son of Heaven, extolling him and using this as cause to make for my august late father Gongshu a set of harmonized bells. Ding, dong, bing, bong, ding, dong, bing, bong. May they be used in acts of piety, reverently gladdening past luminaries. May the past luminaries who dwell on high help perpetuate this command, sending down upon me good fortune, tranquility, and purity. May I, Lai, live long in service to the Son of Heaven." May sons' sons and grandsons' grandsons forever treasure these [bells]. translation: remark: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: Notable Acquisitions opening date: 1991-06-07T04:00:00 Notable Acquisitions. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 7-September 15, 1991). title: Asian Autumn: New Objects/New Insights: Cleveland's Recent Chinese Acquisitions opening date: 1994-10-18T04:00:00 Asian Autumn: New Objects/New Insights: Cleveland's Recent Chinese Acquisitions. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 18-December 31, 1994). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS --- PROVENANCE (Robert H. Ellsworth, Ltd., New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) date: ?-1989 footnotes: citations: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH date: 1989- footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: The technical sophistication of the unusual lens-shaped cavity allowed the bell to produce two different tones. digital description: wall description: In ancient China, music and ritual had political significance and were linked inseparably to the power of states. During the Zhou dynasty, bronze bells were made in sets of eight to sixty bells. This bell is the second largest from a set of eight.

This bell bears an inscription of 118 characters about its owner, Lai, and why it was cast. Lai's ancestors dutifully served the Western Zhou royal court, and he was granted a hereditary position by the "Son of Heaven" (the ruler). To express filial piety, Lai commissioned a set of bells as an offering to his father, Gongshu, in the hope that they would be forever treasured by future generations. This important inscription also provides an early example of Chinese calligraphy highlighting the purely abstract lines and construction of characters. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Liu Huaijun. "Meixian chutu yipi Xi Zhou jiaocang qingtong yueqi (A group of Western Zhou bronze musical instruments buried in a pit and excavated at Meixian)." Wen bo 文博, vol. 17, no. 2 (1987): 17-25. page number: url: The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1991. page number: Reproduced: p. 7 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1991/page/n22 Turner, Evan H., et al. “Notable Acquisitions.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 78, no. 3, 1991, pp. 63–147. page number: Reproduced: p. 125 url: https://www.jstor.org/stable/25161319 Wilson, J. Keith, and Anne E. Wardwell. "New Objects/New Insights: Cleveland's Recent Chinese Acquisitions." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 81, no. 8 (1994): 270-347. page number: Reproduced: p. 288; Mentioned: p. 287-291, 346 url: https://www.jstor.org/stable/25161465 Cunningham, Michael R., Stanislaw J. Czuma, Anne E. Wardwell, and J. Keith Wilson. Masterworks of Asian Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1998. page number: Reproduced: pp. 26-27 url: Liu Huaijun. "Shaanxi Meixian chutu jiaocang qingtong qi bitan (Discussion on the bronzes buried in a pit at Meixian, Shaanxi province). Wen wu 文物, no. 6 (2003): 49-50. page number: url: Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014. page number: Mentioned and reproduced: P. 93 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1989.3/1989.3_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1989.3/1989.3_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1989.3/1989.3_full.tif