[If you enlarge this image the bronze inscriptions will be easier to see.] "Left item: A Chinese bronze "fang zun" ritual wine container, from the Western Zhou Dynasty, dated c. 1000 BC, excavated in modern-day Luoyang. The written inscription cast in bronze on the vessel commemorates a gift of cowrie shells - currency in China at the time - to its owner from someone of presumed elite status in Zhou era society. [1] Right item: A Chinese bronze "fang yi" ritual container, from the Western Zhou Dynasty, dated c. 1000 BC. A written inscription of some 180 Chinese characters appears twice on the vessel, in the interior and on the inside of the lid. The written inscription comments on state rituals that accompany court ceremony, recorded by an official scribe of a Zhou nobleman. [2] From the Freer and Sackler Galleries of Washington D.C."