you BM-1936-1118.4

Period:Shang dynasty Production date:1200BC-1000BC
Materials:bronze
Technique:cast
Subjects:bird dragon
Dimensions:Height: 16 centimetres Width: 11.20 centimetres (at lip)

Description:
Quadruped you (lidded ritual wine vessel), piece-mould cast in bronze, in zoomorphic shapes of two back-to-back owls, whose beaks being the up-turned attachments on the lid and feet being the four of the vessel. Both the knobbed lid and the vessel are quartered by flanges. Scale-liked patterns which represent the wings of the owls occupied most parts of the vessel, with the remaining space on both the vessel and the lid being filled with small birds and dragons against a leiwen (‘thunder pattern’) ground. Two small loop handles are attached to the vessel aligned with the two central flanges.
IMG


Comments:The interest in animal images (real or mythical) increased towards the end of the Shang dynasty. Many highly-decorated, animalshaped ritual wine vessels such as this you appeared. Though the exact meaning of these zoomorphic designs is little understood, complex animal motifs on Shang ritual bronzes were probably more than an aesthetic arrangement but related to religious beliefs.