Late Western Chou
(B.C. 1100 - 771)

The "Sung" is a typical Late Western Chou bronze. Its low relief decor falls into four sections:

THE COVER, with its pendant fish-scale motif and band of square S-scrolls below.

THE NECK, with its band of wave patterns and two ringed handles decorated with fabulous beasts.

THE BELLY, with a remarkable double-bodied hornless dragon on each side. The dragon's head with its protruding tongue, common in the Late Western Chou period, occupies the center while the body is simplified into geometrical lines extending left and right.

THE RING FOOT, with its pendant fish-scale motif corresponding to that on the cover.

At the time of this bronze's creation, the animal-mask pattern so favored in the Shang period had faded from the scene.