Bronze
circa 475-221 BCE
China
Museum Rietberg
Details
Culture/Civilisation
Ancient China
Theme
The Great River Civilisations outside India: Mesopotamia, Egypt and China
Subtheme
Ancient China: The Great Northern and Southern Rivers
Case Title
China - mastery in making
Display Location
Coomaraswamy Hall
Findspot
China
Measurements
32.5 x 18.7 x 14.7 cm
Accession Number
2010.53
Description
Bronze: technology and art
China’s mastery of fire, acquired through ceramics, also led to outstanding bronze casting. The bell combined expertise in metallurgy and acoustics. There were ‘orchestras’ of bronze bells of different size and pitch.
Curators Comments
China’s mastery of fire, acquired through ceramics, also enabled advances in metallurgy, leading to mass-production of high-quality bronze objects. Copper deposits were widespread. Key alloys such as tin can be accessed in both southern and northeastern China.
This looped bell (niuzhong) would be struck with a hammer for military signalling and religious rituals, reflecting the deep understanding of acoustics and metallurgy in ancient China. There were also ‘orchestras’ of bronze bells (bianzhong) of different sizes and pitch, evidence of a rich musical tradition.
