Lot 828
828
A BRONZE RITUAL WINE VESSEL, ZUN
A BRONZE RITUAL WINE VESSEL, ZUN
A BRONZE RITUAL WINE VESSEL, ZUN
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PROPERTY FROM A DISTINGUISHED NEW YORK COLLECTION
A BRONZE RITUAL WINE VESSEL, ZUN

MID- TO LATE SHANG DYNASTY, 13TH-11TH CENTURY BC

Details
A BRONZE RITUAL WINE VESSEL, ZUN
MID- TO LATE SHANG DYNASTY, 13TH-11TH CENTURY BC
The body is cast with a double bow-string band at the base of the trumpet neck above three horned animal masks projecting from the edge of the shoulder, each each above a narrow vertical flange that bisects a flat-cast taotie mask with raised boss eyes. The tall spreading foot is cast with a narrow band of pairs of birds with backward-turned heads confronting a narrow flange. The interior is cast with a two-character inscription possibly reading gong zhu.
7 3/8 in. (18.8 cm.) across, padauk stand
Provenance
Alan and Simone Hartman Collection, New York, 1986.

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Rufus Chen (陳嘉安)
Rufus Chen (陳嘉安) Head of Sale, AVP, Specialist
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Lot Essay

Similar animal heads with coiled horns and jutting snouts can be seen set on the shoulder of a zun of larger size (30.2 cm.) dated to the 13th century illustrated by R. W. Bagley in Shang Ritual Bronzes in the Arhtur M. Sackler Collections, The Arthur M. Sackler Foundation, Washington, D.C., 1987, p. 264, no. 42, where the author notes, p. 265, the zun displaced the older lei shape and was one of the more popular vessel types during the first half of the Anyang period. Also illustrated, p. 276, no. 44, is a zun (17.5 cm.) of similar proportions to the present example, but with different decoration and raised on a splayed foot.

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