Shang Dynasty wine vessels

Gou is a wine vessel from the 12th to 11th centuries BC, currently housed in the Minneapolis Museum of Art in the United States. This work is a tall wine glass, with its trumpet shaped top gradually narrowing to the slender center, and then expanding again to the slightly outward turned bottom. Archaeological evidence shows that bronze spears first appeared during the Erligang period of the Shang Dynasty. The gradual decline of wine vessels may be related to King Zhou's denigration of alcohol consumption, as he believed that excessive drinking led to the collapse of the Shang Dynasty. This temple is decorated with a variant of the gluttonous mask. The entire vessel has a tight spiral background pattern, known as the thunder pattern, which is a symbol of copper casting in the Shang Dynasty.