CHINE, FIN DE LA DYNASTIE SHANG, XIIEME-XIEME SIECLE AV.JC.

The musical instrument nao first appeared in China in the late Shang period and continued to be made into the early Zhou dynasty. They were made in sets of five or three, and were probably held upright in stands so that they could be struck from the exterior. Most of them have been excavated in the south of Henan, south of Shandong and Shaanxi provinces. A set of five was found in Fu Hao's tomb in Anyang, and is illustrated in Yinxu Fu Hao mu, Beijing, 1980, pl. LXII (1). A comparable example was sold in Christie's New York, 20-21 March 2014, lot 2010.