A BRONZE WINE VESSEL, ZUN

SHANG DYNASTY, 11TH CENTURY BC

Details

A BRONZE WINE VESSEL, ZUN
Shang dynasty, 11th century BC
The sides flat cast with a band of three taotie masks with raised eyes below a band of dragon scroll, with a wider band of dragons with backward-turned heads interrupted by three bovine masks cast in relief on the canted shoulder, with a broad trumpet-shaped mouth and spreading pedestal foot, the base of the interior cast with a three-character pictograph, with dark grey patina and some green encrustation
9 1/8in. (23cm.) diam.

Provenance

David A. Berg Collection, New York.
Christie's, New York, 21 September 2000, lot 159.

Lot Essay

The three-character inscription may be read ju fu (father) zun. Varying interpretations for the character ju have been suggested, including the possibility that it is a clan sign.

A very similar bronze zun of the same size and decoration, but with the addition of pairs of bowstring bands encircling the lower neck and upper foot is in The Brooklyn Museum, illustrated by C. Deydier, Archaic Chinese Bronzes I, Xia and Shang, Paris, 1995, p. 274, pl. 1.

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