Wine Vessel with Ox Heads (Translation)
牛首餮饕紋尊 商晚期 (Primary Title)
Zun (Wine Vessel) (Former Title)
Wine Vessel with Three Ox-Heads (Zun) (Alternate Title)
Unknown (Artist)
This jar features on its shoulder three ox heads, cast in high relief. In the Shang dynasty, oxen were used as ritual sacrifice in return for a good harvest and good fortune. The ox heads on this jar were cast first separately and then together with the body of the vessel. This vessel is stylistically similar in size and decoration to a bronze zun, excavated near the capital of the Shang dynasty at Anyang in Henan province.
Shang dynasty (1600 - 1045 BC)
traces of inscription, illegible
Adolph D. and Wilkins C. Williams Fund
Image released via Creative Commons CC-BY-NC
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