SHANG DYNASTY, EARLY ANYANG PERIOD, 13TH CENTURY BC

The unusual shape of this rare bronze zun is quite different from the more usual zun shape, where the top section flares out in a curved profile from a somewhat rounded mid-section which is raised on a slightly spreading foot. The shape of the present zun appears to be based more on a goblet form. The simplicity and casting of the decorative bands is also unusual. Another zun of this rare type excavated in 1980 at Luoshan, Mangzhang, Henan province, is illustrated in Zhongguo Qingtongqi Quanji - Shang, vol. 4, no. 4, Beijing, 1998, p. 125, no. 128. The decorative bands appear to be similarly cast. However, rather than bands of dogtooth pattern below a border of circles, the bands on the excavated zun have a leiwen pattern interrupted by slender flanges between narrow borders of circles. Also, the arrangement of the decorative and bow-string bands is somewhat different on the two vessels.