Basin (pan)

Displayed in a group: B60 B1001 (front), B60 B89 (middle) and B60 B37 (back)
This shape can claim a Neolithic ancestry, is attested to in Middle Shang finds, and was produced throughout the Shang and Zhou dynasty. Usually Shang pan have three irregularly shaped perforations where the bowl and feet meet. Late Zhou texts refer to pan as vessels used for ablutions, and the aquatic nature of their main ornamental schemes clearly indicates that they were meant to hold water. These unusual designs and the special cursive way in which they are rendered illustrate a surprising freshness of attitude, a sort of popular vein which is usually absent from all other categories of vessels.

The exterior decoration of this pan is somewhat less commonplace than that of the preceding vessel [B60 B1001]. On the bowl itself, a narrow six-panel band contains six dragons confronted, two by two. In front of their spiraling tails and underneath their bellies is a rare motif consisting of a circle with six or seven circular indentations. The foot band is more prosaically decorated with three panels of confronted, winged dragons forming taotie masks with high, sharp central ridges. While the rim is free of any ornament, the inside walls display the same kind of procession mentioned above. The lower part of the walls and the bottom of the bowl are incised with a coiled, snake-like creature whose head is that of a taotie with bottle-shaped horns and large, dome-shaped, protruding eyes, as well as detached nostrils and whiskers. The body of the monster is made of two external strips with I and T-shaped scores (just like typical flanges) and of five strips with scale motifs alternating with plain areas. The most interesting and also the most unexpected aspect of the decor of the bowl taken as a whole is that it presents an unusual admixture of almost casual, perfunctory elements and very minute details.

Fully integrated in the design, on the nape of the monster, is an inscription comparable to that of you B60 B996 (see Pl. XV and fig. 18).