A RARE SMALL BRONZE VESSEL, ZUN
VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price plus bu… Read more
A RARE SMALL BRONZE VESSEL, ZUN

SHANG DYNASTY (CIRCA 1600-1100 BC)

Details
A RARE SMALL BRONZE VESSEL, ZUN
Shang dynasty (circa 1600-1100 BC)
With widely spreading base and flaring neck, the central loop cast with four eyes and connected by scrollwork between narrow bands of circles, the base with a fine scrolling frieze above an eye and scrollwork band around the foot, the interior of the base with a pictogram, the bronze with an even pale green patina with small areas of malachite encrustation
5¼ in. (13.4 cm.) high
Special notice
VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price plus buyer's premium.

Lot Essay

Acquired in December 1995.
An identical example excavated in 1950 in Anyang District, Henan Province, is illustrated in Zhongguo Meishu Quanji, vol. 4, no. 61.
A zun of similar shape, but with differently decorated bands, is illustrated in Robert W. Bagley, Shang Ritual Bronzes in the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, Cambridge/MA, 1987, fig. 48.3. Apart from the shape, it shares with the present lot a similar central band, which is cast with taotie masks between horizontal bands of circles; this characteristic is also apparent on the following two zun published in op. cit., figs. 48.4 and 48.5.

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