Beast face tattoo

[Beast Face Veins]

Beast Face Veins were made in the early Shang Dynasty, with a height of 25 cm and a diameter of 18 cm
The neck of this vessel is large, and there are two columns at the edge of the mouth. The top of the column is decorated with fire patterns, the neck and abdomen are segmented, and the lower end of the neck is decorated with animal face patterns. The abdomen bulges out in a circular arc, with an arc single handle, a flat bottom, and a triangular conical tripod
This utensil has the obvious characteristics of the early Shang Dynasty: the columns are not very developed mushroom columns, while the columns of the bronze vessels in the middle and late Shang Dynasty are increasingly developed and prominent. The fire pattern (formerly called vortex pattern) on the top of the column is a sign of the sun. Its shape is circular, with a slight protrusion in the middle and a rotating arc around it. The early fire patterns mainly appeared on bronze vessels. The vessels in Erlitou culture period were decorated with fire patterns. By the early Shang Dynasty, the fire patterns generally appeared on the columns and abdomen of the vessels, while in the late Shang Dynasty, the fire patterns gradually transferred from the vessels to vessels such as Ding and Gui
The drinking vessel is the largest in size and capacity. In the Book of Rites, Kaogongji, Ziren, Jia Gongyan quoted Han Shishuo as saying: “Jue is one liter, Gu is two liters, Zhi is three liters, Jiao is four liters, and San (drinking vessel) is five liters.” The level of the drinking vessel is relatively low. In the Book of Rites, the vessel says: “The honorable one offers the jue, and the humble one offers the San (drinking vessel).” Now the bronze vessel commonly known as the drinking vessel is named by the Song people, which was first seen in the “Bo Gu Tu Lu”
As for the purpose of drinking wine, there is a saying that it is a warm wine utensil, but in terms of etiquette, according to the Book of Rites, Zuo Zhuan and other books, drinking wine is mainly a wine utensil used for naked ceremony.