During the Qing dynasty bianzhong similar to the present lot were produced for the court and became an essential component of the Confucian ritual ceremonies at the Imperial altars, formal banquets and processions. The music produced by these instruments was believed to facilitate communication between the humans and deities. Gilt-bronze bells of this type were assembled in sets of sixteen and produced twelve musical tones with four tones repeated in a higher or lower octave. Of equal size but varying thicknesses, these bells were attached to tall wooden frames in two rows of eight, as depicted by Giuseppe Castiglione (1688-1766) in his painting Imperial Banquet in Wanshu Garden, included in the exhibition Splendors of China's Forbidden City. The Glorious Reign of Emperor Qianlong, The Field Museum, Chicago, cat, No. 101. Compare the predecessor to this bell, similarly cast with dragons and dated to the 55th year of the Kangxi reign (corresponding to 1716), included in the exhibition Treasures from the Palace Museum, The Seibu Museum of Art, Tokyo, 1982, no. 3 and another with Kangxi mark dated to the 5th year of Kangxi (corresponding to 1666), sold in Sotheby's New York, 19 September 2007, lot 94. See also a bell dated to 1743 of this shape and related design and another sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 27 May 2008, lot 1540. Another of this form but decorated with bands of raised studs instead was sold in Sotheby's Paris rooms, 9 June 2010, lot 39.