SHANG DYNASTY, CIRCA 14TH-11TH CENTURY BC

The shape and decoration of this grey pottery vessel were inspired by those of unusual bronze zun of Shang date, such as one excavated in 1980 at Luoshan, Mangzhang, Henan province, illustrated in Zhongguo Qingtongqi Quanji - 4 - Shang(4), Beijing, 1998, p. 125, no. 128. For another dark grey pottery zun, quite similar to the present vessel, in the Tokyo National Museum, see Exhibition of Eastern Art celebrating the opening of the Gallery of Eastern Antiquities, 1968, p. 77, no. 342, where it is dated Yin dynasty, 1350-1050 BC. Another dark grey pottery zun of this type, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, is illustrated in Oriental Ceramics, The World's Great Collections, Tokyo, 1977, vol. 12, pl. 1, where it is dated 14th-11th century BC.