EARLY WESTERN ZHOU DYNATY, 11TH-10TH CENTURY BC

A zhi and cover with loop handle of similar proportions and size, but decorated with narrow bands of confronted birds, unearthed in Chang’an City, Shaanxi province, and now in the Shaanxi History Museum, is illustrated in Zhongguo Qingtongqi Quanji - 5 - Xi Zhou (1), Beijing, 1996, pp. 118 and 38, no. 123. A zhi and cover with loop handle of slightly larger size, but with decoration of slender bow-string bands, unearthed together with a ladle in 2011 in Suizhou city, Hebei province, and now in the Cultural Heritage and Archaeological Institute of Hubei Province, is illustrated by Wu Zhenfeng, Shangzhou qingtongqi mingwen ji tuxiang jicheng (Complete Collection of Inscriptions and Images of the Shang and Zhou Bronzes), vol. 19, Shanghai, 2012, p. 401, no. 10574. This zhi from Suizhou city is of oval section, whereas the current vessel and the example from Chang’an city are of rounded-rectangular section. Also illustrated, ibid., p. 413, no. 10589, is a zhi and cover with loop handle also of rounded-rectangular section like the current zhi, but decorated with narrow bands of stylized dragons.