LATE SPRING AND AUTUMN PERIOD, 6TH-5TH CENTURY BC

The pen is a type of water vessel. The term pen appears on other vessels of this form, such as the Zeng Taibao pen illustrated by Rong Geng, Shangzhou yiqi tongkao, (A General Study of Archaic Bronzes in the Shang and Zhou Dynasties), vol. 2 (plates), no. 880. The pen shape is very similar to the jian. The Eastern Han Chinese dictionary Shuowen jiezi (Explaining Graphs and Analyzing Characters) explains that the jian is a larger version of the pen. Therefore, small vessels like the present one should be identified as pen. According to J. So, Eastern Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, vol. III, New York, 1995, p.13, the shouldered jian shape, which probably originated in southern Henan province, was unknown during the Western Zhou period, but by the later Spring and Autumn period had become more common. A jian with cover, of Middle Spring and Autumn date, 7th century BC, p. 19, fig. 111, has narrow rope-twist bands similar to the one on the present vessel and a pair of loop handles with a different type of dragon mask decoration. The body and shoulder are similarly decorated with bands of interlocked scrolls, but the scrolls are raised and incorporate eyes.