Sacrificial Bronze Vessel (Zun), List#21

Narrator

This bronze vessel, known as a zun, is similar to ones found in the Central Plain of China: The decoration is the same. The shape is the same. The only difference seems to be how it was used.

In the Central Plain, a zun would have been part of a set of vessels used in the most important of all Chinese rituals: making offerings to ancestral spirits. One of the universal Chinese customs is the belief that spirits can affect the wellbeing of the living; that if they are worshipped and cared for, they will make life on earth better.

Central Plain zuns held wine. But here, at Sanxingdui, they were found packed with melted bronze, jade pieces and cowrie shells.

Suzanne Cahill

From that, we guess that their use might be different. But again, we're not quite sure what. We see them used as containers, but what else... what other meanings they had, we don't know for sure.

Narrator

Another intriguing piece also found in the pits, is a female figure holding a zun on her head. [SFX] [image: figure holding a zun]

We see similar stylized eyes and she is kneeling. Does that give an indication as to how zuns were used or maybe where they came from?
Sanxingdui is situated in the region called Sichuan, which means "four rivers", so trade with other areas seems very likely. This vessel could have even been brought to Sichuan for sale.

Suzanne Cahill

If the pieces were made in the Central Plain and then imported into Sanxingdui, something that had a bird on it, considering their love of birds, would be a very attractive object that they might want to acquire.