I originally intended to search for Chinese bronze antiques, but I was thinking about the bells that I hear on campus every day and I was inspired to examine bronze bells. There is no photographer credited, but there is a curator – Keith Wilson. It is currently in the Freer Sackler gallery in Washington, D.C. – it was previously owned by Marquis Yi, of the Zeng State. Because he was a Marquis, these bells were included among the prized possessions that he was buried in his tomb with. He was buried with “21 young women; bronze weapons, elaborate bronze vessels and fittings for chariots, and most famously, an enormous set of bronze bells arranged into a single musical instrument that likely required five people to play”. I can infer that he lived lavishly and enjoyed listening to music. The bells were a significant part of his tomb – they contributed to his happiness in the afterlife and proved that he was a man of substance. These bells also signified the start of a new musical era in China – they were the start of a series of discoveries about what bells can do and the different ways they could be made.

We learned about antiques this past week and the bronze bells strike me as beautiful