LATE SHANG DYNASTY, 12TH-11TH CENTURY BC

This zun is similar in shape and decoration to one illustrated by J.K. Murray, A Decade of Discovery: Selected Acquisitions, 1970-1980, The Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 1979, no. 6, which is dated to the Shang dynasty, 12th-11th century BC, based on a similar vessel excavated at Cangshan, X'ian, Shandong province and illustrated in Wenwu, 1965:7, p. 30, fig. 13. The Freer zun is set on a high foot, rather than the spreading foot of the present vessel.