0111 - Painted chiming stone. Made of bluish limestone, this chiming stone ...Back

Painted chiming stone. Made of bluish limestone, this chiming stone with polychrome phoenix design is one of a group of twenty-five similar stones found together near the site of Yingtu, the capital of the State of Ch'u. The sounds they produce vary in accordance with the size and thickness of the stone. The bigger and thicker the stone is, the lower is the pitch of its sound, and the smaller and thinner the stone is, the higher is its pitch. Acoustic tests show that the twenty-five stones have a diapason of three octaves ranging from D4 to B6 and that most of them are still capable of producing true and melodious tones. Warring States Period (475-221 B.C.). Unearthed in 1970 at Chiangling, Hupeh Province.