Qing (磬 )

Inscription: According to this inscription, this Qing is part of the imperial commissioned Qing made of Jade in the reign of Qianlong (1735-1796). A similar (probably another one in the set) can be found in the following link to the Palace Museum in Beijing:
http://www.dpm.org.cn/Big5/phoweb/Relicpage/1/R312.htm

子輿有言，金聲玉振，一簴無雙，九成遞進。准今酌古。既製鎛鍾，磬不可闕，條理始終。和闐我疆，玉山是矗，依度采取，以命磬叔。審音協律，咸備中和，泗濱同拊，其質則過。圖經所傳，浮岳涇水，誰誠見之？鳴球允此。法天則地，股二鼓三，依我繹如，獸舞鸞鬖。考樂唯時，乾禧祖德，翼翼繩承，撫是萬國。益凜保泰，敢或伐功。敬識歲吉，辛巳乾隆。

Ziyu once said: “to play ceremonial music, we need only one Qing. As the music plays, we should take an ecclectic approach with old and new tunes.” Since we have made the Bozhong, to give music completeness, the Qing should not be absent. In my territory Hetian stood the Jade mountain, from which we mine the raw materials according to rules of the past, and ask Qingshu, the acclaimed master, to craft the instrument. He tuned it in accordance to temperament, emcompassing the virtue of peace and balance. If we compare its sound with that made of Sibin stone, a strike would make a significant difference. Have anyone witnessed, today, the magnificent mountains and waters described in Ancient Maps? It is only through the sound of such Qing that enables us to ‘see’ this once again. Drawing from the rules of the Universe, the Qing is made in proportion. The sonority thus flows, upon listening, the auspicious beast and pheonix dance. What a prime time it is to play the music of the ancestors. Humbly and attentively I carry on their virtues and with which, I govern my land. Hereby I humbly announce my achievements in fortifying my rulership while bestowing happiness to my people. Respectfully I inscribe this text in an auspicious year, Qianlong in the year of Xinsi.

乾隆御製
Imperial production in the reign of Qianlong

清聲第四夾鐘
The Fourth Jiazhong of the Qing Scale

大清乾隆二十有六年,歲在辛巳,冬十一月乙未朔,越九日癸卯,琢成
The No. Twenty-sixth year in the reign of Qianlong of the Great Qing Empire, composed on the first day of Yiwei in November in the year of Xinsi (November 26th, 1761). The inscription was engraved after nine days on the day of Guimao (December 4th, 1761).

The Seal Script on the instrument comes from Vol. 22 of 钦定国子监志 edited by Liang Guozhi 梁國治（1723-1786). The departmental files contain a page from the Sikuquanshu database.

Translations by Hui Fang, Dept. of Asian Art (December, 2014)
See files for footnotes.

Florence and Herbert Irving

Pengliang Lu. Recasting the Past: The Art of Chinese Bronzes, 1100–1900,. New York, p. 243, fig. 94, ill.