Yan steamer, 11th century BCE

Description

Ancient Chinest bronze steamer, now in the collection of the Minneapolis Institute of Art. From the object's description on https://new.artsmia.org : "The yan is a type of steamer, or cooking vessel, used chiefly for grain. It consists of a zeng, or deep upper bowl with a pierced bottom, which was placed upon or attached to a lower, legged vessel known as a li (in this example the two parts are cast into an inseparable unit). Water contained within the li would be boiled, steaming the food in the upper bowl. Yan first appeared during the late Shang dynasty (c. 1300–1046 BCE), around the 12th to 11th century BCE, and was a popular form throughout the Western Zhou (c. 1046–771 BCE) and early Spring and Autumn (770–476 BCE) periods." More Information: https://collections.artsmia.org/art/1153/yan-steamer-tien-nung