page_title: Rhinoceroses in ancient China
section_title: Rhinoceroses in early Chinese art
hierarchical_section_title: Rhinoceroses in ancient China / Rhinoceroses in early Chinese art
caption_attribution_description: English: Wine ritual vessel (zun or gui) in shape of rhinoceros, probably late 1100s–1050 BCE, Shang Dynasty, bronze 中文: 晚商 青銅 清道光時山東壽張梁山出土“小臣艅”尊
context_page_description: The existence of rhinoceroses in ancient China is attested both by archaeological evidence and by references in ancient Chinese literature. Depictions of rhinoceroses in ancient Chinese art are typically very accurate and lifelike, suggesting that they were modelled first-hand by the artist on living rhinoceroses rather than being based on legend or traveller's tales. The main species of rhinoceros that lived in China in ancient times has been identified as the Sumatran Rhinoceros, more especially the Northern Sumatran rhinoceros although the Indian Rhinoceros and Javan Rhinoceros were also present.
context_section_description: The earliest, and one of the most impressive, examples of a rhinoceros in Chinese art is a bronze zun wine vessel unearthed in Shandong in 1843, and formerly in the collection of Avery Brundage, which is thought to date to the reign of the last king of Shang, during the first half of the 11th century BC.  The vessel is in the form of a two-horned rhinoceros with a rotund body and splayed legs.
  Another bronze rhinoceros wine vessel, dating to the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC – AD 9), was discovered in Shaanxi in 1963 (shown at the top of this page).  This one is even more lifelike and realistic than the Shang Dynasty example, and must have been modelled on an actual rhinoceros.  It is also a more highly decorated piece of art, with complex cloud patterns inlaid into its skin with gold and silver wire.  Laurence Sickman has noted that "[i]n its bony head, powerful shoulders, ponderous hindquarters, thick folds of skin, firmly planted hoofs, and stance with head lifted on the alert, the essential reality of a rhinoceros is present in a bronze of superlative quality".  This rhinoceros has two horns and shows distinctive wrinkles around the eyes which are characteristic features of the Sumatran Rhinoceros.  The lid of the vessel is in the form of a saddle, and straps attaching the saddle to the rhinoceros go around the belly of the animal, suggesting that the model for this vessel must have been a tame rhinoceros.
caption: Rhinoceros-shaped wine vessel dating to the late Shang Dynasty.
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