CHINESE BRONZES, INLAID WITH SILVER WIRE.
informs us that during this period, in the reign of the Emperor Siouan-tsoung, the imperial palace wasdestroyed by a fire which lasted for many days, and the violence of which was so great, that a prodigiousquantity of gold, silver, and brass, was melted and fused together in the ruins. The Chinese annals add, that
with the material thus formed a great number of vases were fabricated, which are now very much esteemed
in China and of great value. From the fineness of the casting, and the perfect colour and “patina” of thevase in the Dumenil collection, M. Labarte presumes that it was one of those so produced.
The Chinese have long been celebrated for various alloys of copper and other metals. In bell-metal,especially, their productions have been remarkable, not only for purity of tone, but for the extraordinarysize and perfection which they have been enabled to give to their castings. Old travellers relate, that atNankin there were formerly four bells, of such enormous size, that, although not swung, but only struckwith a wooden mallet, they brought down the tower in which they were hung, and have long lain neglectedamong its ruins. One of these bells is about 12 feet high, 7 \ in diameter, and 23 feet in circumference. Fromthe dimensions of this bell its weight has been computed at 50,000lbs.
The large Chinese bell in the British Museum is quite a modern work, but there can be no doubt
that, like most of the artistic efforts of that remarkable country, it reproduces the ancient types, both in
form and decoration. It is surmounted by the Imperial Dragon, and is ornamented with a number of smallfigures of Buddha in high relief. Nearly the whole surface of the bell is covered with inscriptions; amongwhich are eight lines of poetry relative to the Buddhist religion. The smaller inscriptions, in the Chinese and Sanscrit character, are entitled the Prayer of Fuh (Buddha ), “with a list of names of believing doctors
and faithful ladies.” It also bears the names of its makers; of the authorities of the Teen-pe-ling temple,
near Ningpo , whence it was brought; and of the civil and military officers of that city, together with the dateof its being cast,—“on a morning of the eighth moon in the 19th regnal year of the present Emperor, TaouKwang.” (a.d. 1839-40).*
The celebrated Chinese gongs are usually formed of a metal somewhat similar to that of the large bells
above referred to, but more brittle in quality. They appear, upon analysis, to be composed of eighty parts
of copper, and twenty parts of tin. These instruments are much used in the temples, in processions beforethe mandarins, and in theatrical entertainments.
Another alloy, which has been denominated white copper, and which in its external appearance somewhatresembles German silver, is well known and extensively used in China . Besides its employment for ordinaryutensils, this metal is occasionally applied in a somewhat singular manner,— as an external coating to cups,saucers, &c., of porcelain. In addition to specimens of this kind in the Great Exhibition of 1851 , and inMr. Dunn’s Chinese collection, the latter contained some cups of hard wood, lined and edged with whitecopper. A basin of this material was analysed by Dr. Fife, who describes it as “ approaching to the colourof silver, and so very sonorous that, being struck by the fingers, the sound might be heard at the distance ofa mile. It was malleable at a natural temperature, and at a red heat; but when heated to whiteness itbecame quite brittle. It was found to consist of one-half of copper, and one-half of zinc and nickel, in nearlyequal proportions, with a small quantity of iron. It cost in China about one-fourth of its weight in silver.”
+ Holland's “ Manufactures in Metal,” vol. iii. p. 1(59.