CHINA - KANGXI Period (1662 - 1722)
Ritual gilt bronze bianzhong bell, cast in high relief with two five-clawed dragons, their scales finely chiseled, chasing the flaming pearl above the waves, alterning with two rectangular panels inscribed Yi Ze for one and Kang Xi Bing Shen Nian Zhi on the other, corresponding to 1716. On the lower part, a frieze of discs patterns and stylized clouds. On the upper part, another frieze of small clouds. The handle shaped as a pair of dragons, standing firmly on their legs, their open mouths revealing sharp fangs, two thinly twisted horns on their foreheads.


The Zhou Li, compiled between 500 and 200 BC, during the Warring States period, lists eight materials for Chinese musical instruments : metal, stone, terracotta, leather, cords, wood, gourd and bamboo. Amongst these materials, stone and metal appear as the most important ones, and among metal, one instruments rises above the others : the bianzhong bell.
Bianzhong bells are not played alone, but as a carillon. The most ancient sets of bianzhong date back to the Western Zhou dynasty (3000 BC) and comprise three bells. Sets of nine bells have also been found dating back to the Spring and Autumn period (770-403 BC). The biggest set ever excavated in the whole history of China was the one from Zeng Hou Yi tomb, sixty-five bells dated between 777 and 733 BC.
Archaic bianzhong carillons hold an indefinite number of bells, and these bells vary in size. The note depends on the size of the bell : the smaller, the higher the sound. Moreover, each bell can produce two different sounds, depending on where the body of the bell is hit, side or front. It is then possible to achieve an infinity of notes, depending on the bells in the carillon and the way they are hit.
When the Qing Dynasty is established in 1644, new rulers decide to lean on music to establish their domination in a stable way. New emperors being mandchu, their customs differ from the ones of the Han majority of the empire. In order to install a harmonious dynasty, emperors encourage a refined court music, inspired from Han music. They decide to codify it in order to give the empire a sense of unity. Under the rule of emperors Kangxi (1661-1722), Yongzheng (1722-1735) and Qianlong (1735-1796), a great quantity of high quality music instruments is made, and the Imperial orchestra amounts to more than 200 musicians. Among the eight materials in which instruments can be made, metal is both the most precious and the most solid : bianzhong bells could reach our times, unlike more fragile instruments, unable to resist the fate of time and wars.
In September 1713, Kangxi commands to gather in Beijing a group of the most skilled musicians, technicians and musicologists in order the set the musical scale of the Empire. By the end of 1713, the Lu Lü Zheng Yi, compiling the research and the new scale is published, the emperor having decided himself of the notes making up that new scale. This scale is the very first one officially established in the China Empire. It is made of twelve notes, in reference to the twelve months of the year, plus four flat notes, making up a total of sixteen notes. Notes are alternatively yang (male principle)
for the odds and yin (female principle) for the even notes.
The historical archives of Qing dynasty, the Qing Sho Gao, written between 1914 and 1927, state that from 1713, bianzhong carillons have a fixed set of 16 bells. From the lower note to the higher one, bells follow the order huangzhong, dalu, taicu, jiazhong, guxi, zhonglu, ruibin, lingzhong, yize, nanlu, wuyi and yingzhong, plus the flat tones pei yize, pei nanlu, pei wuyi and pei yingzhong.
Unlike the archaic bianzhong bells, all the bells from one carillon are of the same size. The note is determined by the thickness and the weight of the bell. Each bronze bell is smelted and hand chiseled before being gilded, in order to attain a precise note. This note does not change depending on the place where the bell is hit : each bell only produces one pure sound.
The bianzhong bell we are presenting bears the inscription Ye Zi : it therefore corresponds to the ninth note of the scale.
In Qing court, music plays a major role : musicians support calendar rites, official receptions but also banquets and festivities. Depending on the ceremony, the musical instruments change. Bianzhong bells always have 16 bells, but the size of these 16 bells can vary according to the place and type of rite. There are carillons of large bells, medium bells and small bells. The bells can be ornate with two types of patterns : dragons chasing the flaming pearl among swirls of clouds or ba gua trigrams.
Carillons of large bianzhong were used for outside ceremonies, such as military gatherings, calendar rites or ambassadors receptions. The bells on the carillon are all 30 cm high and 17 cm wide. Several paintings in the Forbidden City Museum of Beijing illustrate this use. A bianzhong carillon can be seen in Giuseppe Castiglione’s painting « Imperial banquet at Wanshu garden » : during a military ceremony to celebrate a victory, musicians with a carillon of chiming stones and a bianzhong carillon are posted on each side of the imperial tent. Bianzhong carillons can also be seen in painting depicting other events, such as in « Ping ding hui Jiang jiao Qin ni yi than tu ce » (ref.00006335-9/10) and « Wan shu yuan ci Yan tu » (ref.00006275). Small bianzhong carillons were exactly half the size of large ones : each bell is 15 cm high and 8 cm wide.
Such bianzhong were used in court for inside ceremonies, slightly less formal, and with less attendants.
Finally, medium sized carillons also existed, each bell being 21 cm high and 12 cm wide. The exact use of these bianzhong is yet to be revealed, but it is supposed that they were used in very specific rites, less frequent than the ones using large or small bianzhong. Medium bianzhong are then a lot less frequently discovered than the other ones : only two complete sets of medium bianzhong are to be found in the Forbidden City Museum in Beijing.
The bell we present is exceptional for several reasons.

The inscription Kang Xi Bing Shen Nian Zhi chiseled on one side corresponds to 1716. It reveals that the bell was made shortly after Kangxi’s decision to set a new formal musical scale. It marks the exact moment when imperial workshops where at their peak : they made refined new instruments for the imperial court in order to promote the new Chinese musical scale. The magnificent and highly detailed chiseling of the bell speaks for itself : this bianzhong is truly a superb example of Kangxi refinement. A two-faced dragon stands on top of the bell, its muscular body firmly standing on clawed legs, used to hang the bell from the wooden frame. The body of the bell is divided in three registers : the upper one holds a pattern of stylized clouds, so does the lower one, with added perfectly round medallions, where the bell is hit to produce the sound. In between, the dragon’s bodies chasing the pearl among swirls of clouds unfurl, revealing glistening scales chiseled to perfection.

The second inscription indicates Yi ze : the bell corresponds to the ninth note of the scale. The dimensions of the bell also make it an extremely rare and extremely well preserved example of an instrument essential to the smooth running of rites at the court of Kangxi.
This Yi ze bell is from the same provenance as the Huang Zhong bell, published in 1887 in “L’Art Chinois”
(by M. Paléologue, 80 p.), and sold by Tessier-Sarrou on December 16, 2019 (hammer price €520,000) : it was collected by the great-grandfather of the current collector, Robert by Semallé (1849-1936), at the end of the 19th century. This bell has been part of the family collection for generations and until now has never been was presented for sale. Guarded by the Semallé family, the imperial dragons patiently waited to be rediscovered to bring out the Yi ze note again.