Ritual bronze vessel with such distinctive inlays are based on ancient paragons from the Warring States period, when new technologies made more elaborate metal decorations possible. Since the Song dynasty there was a renewed interest those archaic bronzes in animal shape. Because of printed editions of old collections those bronzes were favored among an elite of scholars and the aristocracy.
Cf. National Palace Museum, Through the Prism of the Past: Antiquarian Trends in Chinese Art of the 16th to 18th Century, Taipei 2003, p. 154, 186. The characteristic form the present piece can be traced back to ancient models, such as a bird-shape bronze finial from the Warring States period (Xi'an Municipial Museum, G97). The zoomorphic decoration of the surface is closely related to a ZUN in the shape of a tapir in the Saint Louis Art Museum. See: Hu, Later Chinese bronzes: The Saint Louis Art Museum and Robert E. Kresko Collections, Saint Louis 2008, p. 42. See also: Watson, The Arts of China, 900-1620, Yale 2000, pp. 239-249. – Prov.: From a European coll.
Condition:
The vessel is in good condition with signs of wear consistent with age. The height of the bronze measures c. 25.5 cm, the width c. 23 cm.
ZUN
The ZUN is a vessel type which has the shape of a large, wide cup with a bulbous center part and a wide mouth and foot. The ZUN is reminiscent in its shape to a wide and smaller KU and vessels in the form of various animal are also known as ZUN.
Chinese Bronzes
The Bronze Age in China began with the Shang Dynasty when elaborate objects, including many ritual vessels, were crafted. Shang bronze smiths usually worked in foundries outside the cities to make ritual vessels, and sometimes weapons and chariot fittings. The bronze vessels were receptacles for storing or serving various solids and liquids used during sacred ceremonies. The most popular shapes include the HU, the JUE, the DING and the very rare ZHI form. It is typical of the developed Shang style that all available space is decorated, most often with stylized forms of real and imaginary animals. The most common motif is the taotie, which shows a mask with a frontal, bilaterally symmetrical design.
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