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Flask

4th century BCE

North China

Bronze inlaid with copper

H. 14 1/2 x W. 13 3/4 in. (36.8 x 34.9 cm)

Asia Society, New York: Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller 3rd Collection, 1979.104

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Flat-sided flasks like this one appeared suddenly around 400 B.C.E, just as the traditional repertory of bronze ritual vessels began to decline. Their form was probably based on wooden, or perhaps leather vessels such as may have been used by the nomads on China's northern borders, and it is unlikely that they fulfilled any ritual role. Rather, such vessels were luxury items, used and displayed at banquets. The decoration consists of rectangles of densely packed interlaced designs in which the surface texture, rather than the individual motif, is important. The bands which define the rectangles and the triangles on the neck consist of sheet copper, which first began to be used as inlay in the 6th century B.C.E.