Wine container, zun, in rhinoceros shape, Western Han dynasty, 206 BCE-23 CE. Found in Maoling, Xingping county, Shaanxi Province, in 1963. Bronze inlaid with gold and silver, height 34.1 cm, length 58 cm. National Museum of Chinese History, Beijing.

Archaeological evidence shows that rhinoceros have been found in China since earliest times. A text on oracle bones from the late Shang dynasty (ca.1300 - ca. 1050 BCE) records the king hunting rhinoceros, whose tough, thick hide was used as body armor by high-ranking soldiers. In the war-torn centuries preceding the Han period, the rhinoceros was hunted nearly to distinction, becoming so rare that it attained almost mythical status.

A chance discovery by a farmer plowing his field, this large rhinoceros-shaped wine vessel, found in a large pottery jar, was probably hidden by its owner during a period of unrest, but never retrieved. It is a masterful creation by an artist who doubtless observed the animal, with its solidity, belligerent stance, and malevolent eye inlaid in black glass.

The body was inlaid with a swirling pattern in gold and silver wire, of which some remains.