LATE SHANG DYNASTY, 12TH-11TH CENTURY BC

Details

A LARGE BRONZE RITUAL WINE VESSEL, ZUN
LATE SHANG DYNASTY, 12TH-11TH CENTURY BC
The slightly tapered cylindrical body is raised on a foot encircled by a band of double scrolls, and is flat-cast around the sides with three large taotie masks formed by pairs of confronted birds with scroll bodies between rows of quills, and with further quills below the upturned tail. Each mask is positioned below one of the three ram's- head masks cast in high relief that project from the edge of the canted shoulder and are flanked by pairs of further birds below the triple bow-string band at the base of the broad trumpet-shaped neck. The bronze has a milky green patina and areas of heavy malachite encrustation all over.
11 3/8 in. (29 cm.) diam.

Provenance

Private collection, Japan, acquired prior to 1950.

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Lot Essay

A late Shang zun with similar flat-cast decoration and of similar proportions, but raised on a taller flared foot cast with taotie masks, from Sanxingdui, Guanghan, Sichuan province, is illustrated in Zhongguo Qingtongqi Quanji - 13 - Ba Shu, Beijing, 1994, p. 80, no. 89.

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