Ming Bronze Dragon Vessel

Ritual bronze vessels were notoriously difficult to create, and were used in the tombs and burial sites of Chinese nobility and royalty, or made for people to use as vessels for food and drink offerings to their ancestors. Many were highly stylized, with bold exaggerations and distortions of demons, beastly animal faces or abstract symbols. This particular 17th century bronze vessel is intricately carved with sculptural handles in the form of dragons, which symbolized power and good fortune for those worthy of it, and a geometric pattern, both of which became popular during the Western Zhou (1050-771 BC) period.