Ritual food vessel (pou)

Displayed as a group: B60 B1018, B60 B84, B60 B941
Another basic shape, not yet attested to in Middle Shang finds but easily traced back to Neolithic times, the pou presents close similarities with other categories, such as the zun and lei but has a squatness and rotundity that are typically its own. Somehow these vessels look unfinished because dome-shaped lids were integral parts of their profiles and very few lids have survived.

The ornamental schemes of these three vessels are distributed over four main areas which as usual correspond to their structural components: necks, shoulders, bellies and feet.

This vessel, more massive and also more angular, has two bowstrings around its neck. The shoulder band is divided into six sections by three bulky ovine heads in very high relief alternating with deeply scored flanges. Each section contains an eye motif with spiraling extensions. The upper part of the main zone is in fact a narrow ribbon repeating nine times a simplified version of the same eye motif.

The lower part of this zone, divided into three main areas by notched flanges, contains six dragons whose confronted heads join under the shoulder heads on either side of a thin ridge. Small descending dragons are located under the tail of each main dragon. The upper part of the high, conical foot is girt by a single bowstring and perforated at regular intervals with four nondescript openings. The lower part, a large band, also divided into three panels by scored flanges, shows enlarged variants of the same type of eye motifs that appear on the shoulder. With the exception of the protruding eyes, all these animal shapes, irrespective of their location, are flat and immersed in a background of fine rounded spirals.