LATE SHANG DYNASTY, 13TH-11TH CENTURY BC

Wine vessels of this unusual addorsed owl form appear to have been made primarily during the Shang dynasty. With its austere, simplified decoration, the Shouyang Studio you represents an earlier phase of development of this vessel form, with later you of this type becoming more elaborately decorated. Each broad side of the current you is cast with an animal mask in relief through which a rope was attached to facilitate carrying the vessel.

A very similar you was unearthed in 1957 at Erlangpo, Shilou, Shanxi province, and is illustrated in Shanxi Sheng Wenguanhui Baoguanzu ed., “Shanxi Shilou xian Erlangpo chutu Shang Zhou qingtongqi,” Wenwu cankao ziliao, 1958.1, cover plate. Another similar you, but of smaller size (15.2 cm. high), is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, acc. no. 43.28a-c (https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/61225). Other owl-shaped you with simple decoration, but with upturned beaks and overhead horizontal plaited handles, include the example in the Yincheng Cultural Center, Hubei province (see Zhongguo Qingtongqi Quanji Bianji Weiyuanhui ed., Zhongguo qingtongqi quanji [A Comprehensive Collection of Chinese Bronzes], vol. 4, Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, 1998, p. 152) and in the Shanghai Museum (see Chen Peifen, Xia Shang Zhou qingtongqi yanjiu [Studies on the Bronzes of the Xia, Shang and Zhou Periods], vol. 2, Shanghai: Shanghai gujichubanshe, 2004, p. 310.). For an owl-shaped you decorated with dense, elaborate decoration, see the example found in burial M539 of the Yin ruins in the south of Dasikongcun, Anyang, Henan province, illustrated in Yang Xizhang, “1980 nian Henan Anyang Dasikongcun M539 fajue jianbao,” Kaogu, 1992.6, pl. 3.1.