Zhi vase

Made of light olive green jade mottled with dark brown, this wine vessel was inspired by a zhi, a bronze vessel of the same shape used in ritual ceremonies of the late Shang and Western Zhou dynasties (c. 1300–771 BCE). The jade’s debt to its bronze prototype is also confirmed by the band of carved abstract motifs around its neck. On a bronze vessel, these abstractions would have represented dragons alternating with fiery whorl designs.