Bronze Tapir Head-Shape

This decoration is smartly designed: the animal head looks like that of tapir, with a pair f large round ears; its neck is connected to a bar, which was broken; it has a ring under the neck connected with a ringed handle, which was also broken. Such decorations were often found on the bronze You, a handled ritual wine vessel in central China dating from around 800 B.C. Metallurgical tests show that the alloy contents and the lead isotope of samples from this decoration are the same as those of ritual bronzes of Western Zhou Dynasty unearthed in central China.