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Source 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. <br><br>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.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
154710
label
Bell (Lai Zhong)
core
obj
dtoType
object
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
154710
contentType
object
title
Bell (Lai Zhong)
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. <br><br>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.
date
c. 800–700 BCE
citation
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q60759551
genreSpecific
Metalwork
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Overall: 70.3 x 37 x 26.6 cm (27 11/16 x 14 9/16 x 10 1/2 in.)
cul
China, Shaanxi province, Meixian, Western Zhou dynasty (c. 1046–771 BCE)
accession
1989.3
Source extras
tec
bronze
tombstone
Bell (Lai Zhong) (逨鐘), 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
titleInOriginalLanguage
逨鐘
collection
China - Zhou Dynasty
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].
didYouKnow
The technical sophistication of the unusual lens-shaped cavity allowed the bell to produce two different tones.
citations
citation
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.
citation
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
citation
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
citation
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
citation
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
citation
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.
citation
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
creditline
Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund
updatedAt
2026-05-29 08:00:40.877000
sourceId
154710
dept
Chinese Art
coll
China - Zhou Dynasty
med
bronze
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
c18b7c856a18a494