SHANG DYNASTY, ANYANG, 12TH CENTURY BC

The inscription cast within the foot of the vessel, zi long, may be literally translated as 'son dragon.'

A bronze gu with very similar cast decoration, but lacking the inverted taotie masks set within the blades on the neck, excavated in 1953 from Tomb 267 in Dasikong, Anyang, Henan province, and now in the National Museum of China, is illustrated in Zhongguo Qingtongqi Quanji - 2- Shang (2), Beijing, 1997, p. 118, no. 114.