OC 018 · Ritual vessel (pou) · Asia

A great bronze wine jar

A large round dark bronze jar with a domed lid, decorated in bands of patterns
Photo: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, CC0, via The Met Open Access.
Number on this site
OC 018
What it is
Ritual vessel (pou)
Made
13th century BC
Period
Shang dynasty
Material
Bronze
Size
54 cm high, 49.5 cm across
Now held by
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Museum number
17.190.524a, b

A wine jar more than half a metre tall. Next to it most of the Met’s other Shang vessels would look small, and yet the largest Shang bronze known, the Houmuwu cauldron, is 133 cm tall.1,2

Where it sits in human time

Made about 3,280 years ago. On this strip, each step to the right is ten times closer to today.

300,000 years ago10,0003,0001,000100nowA great bronze wine jar

Seen in

Filed under

Sources for this page

Every number on this page comes from one of these. How we check.

Last reviewed 12 November 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.

  1. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Wine container (pou). Shang dynasty, 13th century BCE. Collection record 52617, Open Access (CC0). www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/52617Used for: A large lidded wine jar, 54 cm high. Checked 12 November 2026.
  2. Li Song (2011). Chinese Bronze Ware. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pages 28 to 30. search.worldcat.org/search?q=Chinese%20Bronze%20Ware%20Li%20Song%202011Used for: The great Houmuwu cauldron: its size, weight and inscription. Checked 12 November 2026.