WESTERN ZHOU DYNASTY (1100-771 BC)

Two-part steamers are rare, and no other example of this particular shape appears to have been published. Compare the example illustrated in the Shanghai Museum Ancient Chinese Bronze Gallery Catalogue, p. 24, dated Late Western Zhou. Compare, also, the yan, but with integral upper and lower parts, illustrated by Jessica Rawson in Western Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, The Arthur M. Sackler Foundation, Washington DC, 1990, vol. II B, pp. 335-43, figs. 31-33.