MID-LATE SHANG DYNASTY, 13TH-11TH CENTURY BC

Similar animal heads with coiled horns and jutting snouts can be seen set on the shoulder of a zun of larger size (30.2 cm.) dated to the 13^th century illustrated by R. W. Bagley in Shang Ritual Bronzes in the Arhtur M. Sackler Collections, The Arthur M. Sackler Foundation, Washington, D.C., 1987, p. 264, no. 42, where the author notes, p. 265, the zun displaced the older lei shape and was one of the more popular vessel types during the first half of the Anyang period. Also illustrated, p. 276, no. 44, is a zun (17.5 cm.) of similar proportions to the present example, but with different decoration and raised on a splayed foot.