Period: Shang dynasty (1600 -1046 BCE)
Measurements: Mouth Dia: 27 cm, Height：27.4 cm
Provenience: Unearthed at Copper Melting site of the Nanguan, Shangcheng(Shang Ruin), Zhengzhou, 1954

Made of the rustic clay mixed with sands, this vessel features a mouth-flaring form like a Zun, with a trumpet-shaped mouth which tapers from the mouth to the bottom. It is fully covered with the vertical cord pattern, save for the top, which is decorated with the convex cord pattern. Remnants of the smelting residue and copper slag were found inside.
   
The copper smelting site off the Nanguan, Zhengzhou is the earliest and verified ruin of the ancient bronze-casting workshop of China to date. The bronze-casting location and implements indicate that professional bronze-casting workshops had been established in early Shang dynasty, and the bronze metallurgical industry had evolved into the developmental stage from the budding stage, with which the heyday of the bronze metallurgical industry in the late Shang and early Zhou period came into being.