Zhong (Bell)
Unidentified Eastern Zhou Dynasty maker, Chinese, 771 - 256 BCE
Eastern Zhou Dynasty, Warring States Period (450-221 BCE)
Bronze
Overall: 11 1/2 in. (29.2 cm)
Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Gift of Dorothy Marion Levitt Beskind and D. Herbert Beskind, Class of 1936
M.959.134
Geography
Place Made: China, East Asia, Asia
Object Name
Vessel
Research Area
Asia
On view
Label
When the Hopkins Center for the Arts opened in 1962, it included the first purpose-built art gallery spaces at Dartmouth. The installations featured objects from new gifts to the collection, including many of the objects donated by Dorothy and Herbert Beskind. The bronze yu—a ritual wine vessel—and zhong—a bell used during court religious ceremonies—were both frequently on display in the 1960s and 1970s. The head of a bodhisattva—a being on a path of enlightenment who is progressing toward becoming a buddha—was also on view in the Hopkins Center before the creation of the Hood Museum of Art. With the recent addition of a curator of Asian art to the curatorial team, the collection of Asian art continues to grow through acquisitions, including a recent gift of sixteen ancient Korean ceramics.
From the 2025 exhibition, From Mastodon to Mosaic: Building an Academic Art Collection in America, curated by Ashley B. Offill, Curator of Collections
Course History
CHIN 52, Readings in Classical Chinese: Daoist Philosophical Texts, Sarah Allan, Spring 2015
Art History 63.02, Why Are Museums...?, Mary Coffey, Spring 2026
Exhibition History
Asian Art From the College Collection, Barrows Print Room and Strauss Gallery, Hopkins Center Art Galleries, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, March 5-31, 1974.
Beskind Chinese Bronzes, Spaulding Cases, Hopkins Center Art Galleries, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, October 1973.
Director's Choice, Jaffe-Friede Gallery, Hopkins Center Art Galleries, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, June 10-July 10, 1966.
From Mastadon to Mosaic, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, June 14, 2025 - Fall 2026
Gene Y. Kim, Class of 1985, Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, April 22, 1994-June 22, 1997.
Gene Y. Kim, Class of 1985, Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, September 16, 1997-January 21, 2008.
The Gene Y. Kim, Class of 1985, Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, October 2008-September 28, 2014.
Provenance
Dorothy Marion Levitt Beskind (1917-2014) and David Herbert Beskind (1915-2015), Class of 1936, New York, New York; given to present collection, 1959.
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