id:			154710
accession number:	1989.3
share license status:	CC0
url:			https://clevelandart.org/art/1989.3
updated:		2025-02-09 04:36:27.999000

Bell (Lai Zhong), c. 800–700 BCE. China, Shaanxi province, Meixian, Western Zhou dynasty (c. 1046–771 BCE). 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 BCE
creation date earliest:		-810
creation date latest:		-690
current location:		241A Arts of Ancient China
creditline:			Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund
copyright:			

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culture:	China, Shaanxi province, Meixian, Western Zhou dynasty (c. 1046–771 BCE)
technique:	bronze
department:	Chinese Art
collection:	China - Zhou Dynasty
type:		Metalwork
find spot:	
catalogue raisonne: 

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CREATORS

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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:		

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CURRENT EXHIBITIONS

	title:		Notable Acquisitions
	opening date:   1991-06-07T04:00:00
	<i>Notable Acquisitions</i>. 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
	<i>Asian Autumn: New Objects/New Insights: Cleveland's Recent Chinese Acquisitions</i>. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 18-December 31, 1994).

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LEGACY EXHIBITIONS

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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: 	


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fun fact:


digital description:


wall description:

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RELATED WORKS

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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)." <em>Wen bo </em>文博, vol. 17, no. 2 (1987): 17-25.
	page number: 	
	url:		

	The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em>. 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.” <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em>, 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." <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art </em>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. <em>Masterworks of Asian Art</em>. 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). <em>Wen wu </em>文物, no. 6 (2003): 49-50.
	page number: 	
	url:		

	Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art</em>. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014.
	page number: 	Mentioned and reproduced: P. 93
	url:		

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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