Wine Vessel (zun)
CultureChinese
DateWestern Han dynasty (206 B.C.E.-9 C.E.)
MediumGilt bronze
DimensionsOverall: 5 3/4 × 8 3/4 × 7 7/8 inches (14.61 × 22.23 × 20 cm)
Credit LinePurchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust
Object number46-91
On View
On viewGallery Location
- 231
Collections
Exhibition HistoryMasterpieces of Chinese Art, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, November 19, 1954-January 2, 1955.
Cylindrical jars such as this were the standard wine vessel during the Han period (206 B.C.E.-220 C.E.) and are frequently depicted in tomb reliefs along with ladles and wine cups. The feet of this vessel are in the form of bears-a common Han motif that may have been an oblique reference to nomadic Xiongnu invaders whose name was similar to the Chinese word for bear-while the handles on the body and lid are in the form of monster masks and mythical birds.
Purchased through Laurence Sickman by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1946.
Roger Ward and Patricia J. Fidler, eds., The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection (New York: Hudson Hills Press, in association with Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 1993), 278 (repro.).
Deborah Emont Scott, ed., The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection, 7th ed. (Kansas City, MO: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2008), 303, no. 66 (repro.).
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