Page 72 - Deydier UNDERSTANDING CHINESE ARCHAIC BRONZES

This hybrid vessel, whose shape is a mixture of a li 鬲 and a ding 鼎,
appears at the end of the Shang 商 dynasty. At this period, the vessel’s
body, cast with deep grooves separating the vessel’s three bulbous
swells, is supported by three cone-shaped, pointed, fully rounded legs.

During the transitional period, from the late Shang 商晚期 dynasty to
the early Western Zhou 商晚期 dynasty (circa 12 – 11 centuries B.C.),
th
th
the vessel’s bulbous swells become less obvious and less delineated.
During the Western Zhou 西周 (circa 12 /11 centuries – 771 B.C.) the
th
th
separation grooves virtually disappear, with only lines separating the
body into three sections.

Lian 奩 / Zun 樽

The lian 奩 or, more correctly zun 樽, is a vessel of cylindrical shape,
supported by three small feet, sometimes in the form of animals, and
topped by a cover.

Called a lian 奩 in the catalogues of collections written by antiquarians
from the Song 宋 dynasty to the Qing 清 dynasty (circa 960 – 1911 A.D.),
this vessel was originally considered to be a receptacle for cosmetics.
However, the unearthing by archeologists in 1962 at Youyu Dachuan
右玉大川 Village in Shanxi 山西 province of one such vessel with an
inscription recording the real name by which the vessel was known in
antiquity and its precise use, has now made it possible for us to correct

Lian / Zun, Warring States period (circa 475 – 221 B.C.)
Height: 19.6 cm – Meiyintang Collection n° 133.
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