Table 1 Pitch test of some bells found in the Ningxiang county

From: A “set” of ancient bronze bells excavated in Changsha, Hunan Province, China

Corresponding author’s new no. and appellation

Ningxiang-Shiguzhai-elephant1

Ningxiang-Shiguzhai-Feng2

CsM I

II

III

IV

V

VI

VII

VIII

IX

X

A-tone (Hz; one to two of them will be turned into musical notes)

G#3–45

A#3–31

(229; 228)

C#4 + 18

(280; 279)

C#4 + 18

(280; 279)

D#4 + 10

(313; 312)

D#4 + 10

(313; 314)

E4-24

(325; 326, 327)

F#4–28

(364; 363)

F#4–38

(362; 363, 364)

F#4 + 42

(379; 381, 377)

G4 + 44

(402)

G#4–22

(410)

B-tone (the number before the semicolon is the frequency that is the clearest or most often occurred)

A#3–23

[not tested by the corresponding author, so no Hz is given.]

B3-49

(240; 237, 235, 233, 230, 229, 228, 227, 226)

C#4 + 36

C4 + 48

(283; 282, 280, 278, 276, 274, 269)

D4 + 14

C#4 + 18

(296; 302, 290, 288, 286, 283, 280)

F4 + 4

D#4–29

(350; 347, 343, 337, 335, 330, 321, 315, 306)

E4-19

D#4–1

(326; 323, 319, 315, 313, 311)

F4 + 28

E4-19

(355; 360, 358, 351, 347, 342, 338, 333, 330, 328, 326)

F#4 + 32

F#4–19

(377; 380, 375, 373, 370, 368, 366)

G#4–39

G4 + 44

(406; 404, 402)

G#4–26

G4 + 48

(409; 410, 408, 403)

G#4 + 32

G4 + 48

(423; 420, 412, 409, 403)

A4-12

G#4–10

(437; 434, 431, 427, 423, 420, 413)

Accession no

HnM 39202

Wenguansuo 0667

CsM 1632.9

1632.5

1633

1632.8

1632.7

1632.4

1632.3

1632.2

1632.6

1632.1

Side length (xianchang)

44.5

?

34

31

31.5

31

31

29.5

28

28.3

29

23.3

Spine length (zhongchang)

40

?

29.6

27.5

28

27.5

27

26.5

25.5

24.8

26

21

Girth of lip-mid-hip (LMH)

?

?

99–90-79

90.2–84-72

96.5–89.5–79.5

90–83-72.5

90.5–83.5–71

84.5–79-69.5

84–75.4–63.3

80.5–74.5–64.2

86.5–80.5–70.2

66.5–61.5–54.3

Xianjian, gujian (cavity)

?

?

33.5, 19

32, 21

32, 23

30, 21

32, 20

28.5, 20

28.5, 18.7

27, 19

29.5, 20

23, 15

Wuxiu, wuguang (cavity)

?

?

24, 19

24, 16

25.5, 18

24, 16

24, 15

23, 15.5

23, 13.5

21.5, 14.5

23, 16.5

18, 13

Overall height

70 + 

80

53.5

48.5

54

51.6

50

48

45.7

47

49.5

36.5

  1. Most of the recorded data was measured and tested by the corresponding author in August 2022 in the exhibition gallery of the Changsha Museum
  2. Temperature of the testing location: 22 °C
  3. All measurements are presented in centimeters, unless indicated otherwise
  4. In the LMH section, the term “lip” refers to the girth of the mouth of the bell, “mid” indicates the girth of the section beneath the top two rows of knobs, and “hip” denotes the girth of the lowest section of the bell’s sounding body
  5. A4 = 440 Hz
  6. Overtones of any resonance are not considered the intended tones of a bell; only the fundamental tone is documented
  7. For testing [3, 6,7,8, 28,29,30,31], each bell was placed on the floor with its shank at the base. The A-tone strike position on one side of the bell was struck three times, followed by three strikes on the other side. The corresponding author then tested the four B-tone strike positions, striking each position three times. The sound generated by the bells was recorded and analyzed using the internal recording device of a Samsung Galaxy Book Pro laptop and the audial software “Audacity” [32]
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