Bo (bell)
As bó ( Chinese 鎛 , Pinyin bó ) a certain type of bells is referred to, which were used in religious rituals and on political occasions as gifts in the Chinese Bronze Age . They are characterized by their flattened cross-section and straight lip. They form one of the seven classes of Chinese bells that are struck from the outside. Because they were used as musical instruments, they were of outstanding craftsmanship and were made in such a way that a single piece could produce two tones with a certain pitch spacing.
Appearance
The bo- type bells have the characteristic, flattened cross-section that is characteristic of Bronze Age Chinese bells. Their lip is straight, like that of the very similar bell type nao , but the two types differ in the type of suspension and attachment, as the nao are equipped with a solid pin and are mounted with the lip facing up. bo, however, was hung up and her lip was pointing down. The suspension of the bo is characteristic and consists of an eyelet that is hung in a hook on a carillon frame and is always very elaborate. A wide repertoire of decors is exhausted, with theriomorphic forms such as dragons predominating. As a rule, the sculpted suspension extends over the entire cover plate of the bell body to the edge. Often, especially with examples of bo that do not come from the Chinese heartland , the suspensions turn into elaborate decorative ridges along the cast edges of the bells. Especially in the south, the decorative ridges are often much more complex than the actual suspensions.
History and dissemination
The bo are among the relatively early forms of Chinese bells and have been documented in archaeological evidence since the late Shang period . Only the bell types ling and nao are older. The oldest examples of bo come from finds in Hunan Province , south of the Chinese heartland. It is assumed that due to openings with a continuous metal bar in the cover plate, the earliest examples could have been equipped with a wooden clapper. In addition, the early South Chinese bo were more oval in cross-section and did not yet have the potential to play two notes. Only in the middle western Zhou period did they take on the flattened shape with the tapered connections at the borders of both casting mold parts , probably based on the northern Chinese bells of the zhong type, and took on the property of being able to play two tones. It was only from this time that they were found in large numbers and in glockenspiel ensembles, while early finds appear individually. Over time, the formally similar nao to zhong were further developed and bo were the only remaining type of bells with straight lips. Often they appear in carillon associated with zhong , either in a comparable number or as a single bo together with a set of zhong , for example in the completely preserved carillon of Margrave Yi von Zeng, which was discovered in 1978 . Around the middle to late period of the Warring States the bell type bo disappeared and with it the phenomenon of the two-tone Chinese bells.
Function and use
As mentioned above, bo were usually used as instruments in ancestral cult and were used as parts of entire glockenspiel ensembles. In the ancestral cult of ancient China, chimes were used, for example, when the ancestors were called in regularly recurring celebrations - either on the anniversary of death or at annual festivals - and were entertained with banquets for worship. Ritual vessels were used to prepare and consume food and to heat alcohol and enjoy it by family members involved in the cult. Music was played with carillon to please and entertain the ancestral spirits as in their lifetime. According to the zhouli, regular banquets of this kind were part of the usual rituals of ancestral cult, just as the sacrifice of instruments as grave goods was part of the funeral.
- 大 喪 ， 廞 其 樂器 ， 奉 而 藏 之。
- At large funerals, musical instruments are prepared, offered, and stored [in the deceased's grave].
In addition, the bronze inscriptions, for example, also provide information on the use of bells in cultic and political contexts. The Chu wang yan zhang bo , one of the bells from the grave of Margrave Yi von Zeng, shows its use as a cult object through its discovery in a grave context, its inscription proves the use of bells as a sign of diplomatic interaction:
- 隹 王 五十 又 六 祀 返 自 西 陽 楚王 酓 章 乍 曾侯乙 宗 彝 置 之 于 于 陽 其 其 永 持 用 享。
- It was the 56th [annual] victim. When he returned from Xiyang, King Yanzhang of Chu made an ancestral sacrifice ritual object for Margrave Yi of Zeng and placed it in Xiyang for [Margrave Yi] to keep and use in ancestral cult.
This inscription shows that bells, like other ritual objects made of bronze, could intensify or maintain political ties.
literature
- Lothar von Falkenhausen : Suspended Music. Chime-bells in the Culture of Bronze Age China. University of California Press, Berkeley 1993, ISBN 978-0520073784 .
- Edward L. Shaughnessy (Ed.): New Sources of Early Chinese History. An Introduction to the Reading of Inscriptions and Manuscripts. Institute of East Asian Studies ( inter alia), Berkeley 1997, ISBN 1-557-29058-X .