MIDDLE WARRING STATES PERIOD, 4TH CENTURY BC

According to J. So, Eastern Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, Arthur M. Sackler Foundation, 1995, pp. 416-18, the shape of this vessel is distinctive to Warring States sites in Shandong province. The author illustrates a very similar vessel and cover of larger size (39.5 cm.) from the collection of Dr. Paul Singer, p. 418, fig. 86.2, as well as another of slightly smaller size (32.9 cm.) excavated from a tomb at Shandong Zhucheng Cangiazhuang, p. 418, fig. 86.1, which contained bells with inscriptions that suggest a 4th century BC date.