An archaic bronze ritual wine vessel, zun

LATE SHANG DYNASTY/EARLY WESTERN ZHOU

Details

An archaic bronze ritual wine vessel, zun
Late Shang Dynasty/Early Western Zhou
Of characteristic shape with spreading base central, knop and flaring neck, the midsection and base cast in uniform relief with two taotie masks with bulging eyes, each centred on a vertical flange and separated by pairs of dragon motifs forming subsidiary masks at the sides, the central section between narrow bands of circles and double bowstring bands above and below, the interior with a two or three character pictogram, the mottled green patina with some rust-red encrustation
27.5 cm high

Literature

H.F.E. Visser, Asiatic Art in Private Collections in Holland and Belgium, pp. 106 and 107, pl. 13, no. 17

Lot Essay

An almost identical example from Shaanxi Yao Xian Ximenwai Dingjiagou is illustrated by Jessica Rawson in Western Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, vol. II B, p. 546, fig. 78.1, although the eyes of the upper mask are more oval than round and have slits. Another zun with decoration around the foot as in the present example from the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, is illustrated in idem. p. 547, fig. 78.2. See also col. pl. 78 for the simpler version with decoration only around the midsection.

Compare also the examples from the Cohen Collection included in the Oriental Ceramic Society exhibition, Early Chinese Bronzes, 1951, Catalogue, no. 7 and illustrated by Robert W. Bagley, Shang Ritual Bronzes in the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, 1987, pp. 289-296

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