Page 235 - The Golden Age of Chinese Archaeology: Celebrated Discoveries from the People’s Republic of China

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Bronze animal-shaped zun vessel predominates. The present specimen is quite typi-
cal in manifesting a tension between these dual
Height 38.8 (15 y 4), width 41.4 (16 Y«)
derivations. The raised cover and the bulge below it
Middle Western Zhou Period (c. 975-875 BCE) detract from the objects overall animal likeness in
From Tomb 163 at Zhangjiapo, Shaanxi Province
the effort to create a standard vessel of ambiguous
The Institute of Archaeology, CASS, Beijing typological affiliation, possibly a you. Perhaps in
part because of the need to accommodate the stan-
Shang and Zhou animal-shaped vessels are not pure dard vessel shape, the animal embodied by the
sculpture. Each vessel can be viewed both in terms vessel is of uncertain zoological identity. It has a
of the animal (or animals) it resembles and in terms sheeplike muzzle, large round eyes, narrow pointed
of the standard ritual vessel type (you, ding, hu, zun, ears, and columnar horns; its long, thick neck con-
or gong) that its maker used as his point of depar- trasts with the short, thin legs; the feet have toes
ture. In some instances, the "animal" aspect eclipses rather than hooves; and a pointed protrusion from
the "vessel" aspect; in others, the "vessel" aspect the lower belly may intimate a wing or fin. Most

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