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Ceramic 'chunyu' bell

Ceramic 'chunyu' bell

Chinese

Tall upright form with circular cross-section, with straight sides rising to rounded shoulders, surmounted by a flat platform top with neatly finished raised edge and thick loop handle of arched form at the center; the open base slightly flared; decorated on shoulders with a double band of twin scroll motifs impressed above an engraved single line border; gray stoneware body covered with a thin olive-green glaze unevenly applied and showing mottled reddish brown coloration in some exposed areas due to oxidation during firing. The form simulates a type of bronze bell known as chunyu, which were hollow, clapper-less, and struck to emit their sounds.

Proto-porcelain: stoneware with thin ash glaze

Zhou dynasty, Warring States period, 475-221 BCE

Ritual Implements