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Tripod Wine Container (Zun)
Western Han dynasty (206 BCE–9 CE)
Not on view
This elegant tripod wine vessel features fluidly engraved clouds and mythical animals arranged in two registers around the body. The gilded and silvered patterns create a gleaming surface. A vessel of this form was called zun or, more specifically, wenjiuzun, a term that indicates its use to store a clear liquor that could be repeatedly heated. Zun tripods were a popular style of wine container in the Han period, and contemporary visual materials such as the pictorial brick on display nearby demonstrate that they were used in concert with a ladle.
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