LATE SHANG DYNASTY, 12TH-11TH CENTURY BC

Details

A BRONZE RITUAL WINE VESSEL, ZUN
LATE SHANG DYNASTY, 12TH-11TH CENTURY BC
With plain trumpet-shaped upper body, the center section cast in relief with two taotie masks formed by detached elements centered on and separated by flanges repeated on the spreading foot which is cast with two pairs of confronted birds, the interior of the foot cast with a single graph, perhaps a clan sign, with brownish-olive patina and malachite encrustation
10 7/8 in. (27.6 cm.) high

Provenance

Acquired in Palm Springs, California, November 1996.

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Lot Essay

This zun is similar in shape and decoration to one illustrated by J.K. Murray, A Decade of Discovery: Selected Acquisitions, 1970-1980, The Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 1979, no. 6, which is dated to the Shang dynasty, 12th-11th century BC, based on a similar vessel excavated at Cangshan, X'ian, Shandong province and illustrated in Wenwu, 1965:7, p. 30, fig. 13. The Freer zun is set on a high foot, rather than the spreading foot of the present vessel.

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