zun BM-1936-1118.1

Period:Shang dynasty Production date:1200BC-1050BC (circa)
Materials:bronze
Technique:
Subjects:mammal dragon taotie
Dimensions:Diameter: 17 centimetres (mouth; max) Diameter: 14 centimetres (mouth; min) Height: 45.10 centimetres Weight: 10.60 kilograms Width: 41 centimetres Depth: 20 centimetres

Description:
Double-ram zun; bronze vessel in the shape of a jar flanked by the heads and forequarters of two rams, with curling and rounded horns, and bodies covered with a pattern of scales. Designs of animal masks fill the rectangular panels below the vessel opening. On the underside are a semi-circular loop at the centre and two pairs of C-shaped projections at the sides.
IMG


Comments:This vessel is one of the most important Chinese bronzes in the British Museum collection in terms of its distinctive style which associates it with a manufacture tradition outside of the contemporary Shang centres. The object was probably made in the Yangtze valley, where three dimensional animal designs prevailed as surface decoration of bronzes. A famous example of this is the four-ram zun vessel found at Ningxiang, Hunan. Another comparable object is the double-ram zun in the collection of the Nezu Museum in Tokyo, said to have come from Changsha, Hunan. Recent technical investigation of the object confirms that the ram heads were cast as an integral part of the vessel while the horns were pre-cast and attached by lock-on casting to the ram heads. Scientific examination of this object has also indicated extensive use of spacers in the casting process, which distinguishes this object from most Shang bronzes from Anyang.