Zun A broad category of ritual wine vessels used in ancestral offerings.

The You and Zun You (卣): A bronze vessel with a swing handle, used for storing scented wine. Zun (尊): Used here as a general term for wine vessels. are spoken of separately. Thus, there is a hierarchy: the Upper Zun are called Yi original: 彝. This term implies "constancy" or "eternal law.", the Middle Zun are called You, and the Lower Zun are called Hu original: 壺. A vessel shaped like a flask or jar..

Generally, because the term Yi signifies constancy, it is designated simply as the "Upper Zun." During the Shang Dynasty c. 1600–1046 BCE., simplicity and substance were held in high esteem, and it was in this era that the ritual laws and standards were established.

Consequently, for the vessels recorded from the earliest Yi through to the reigns of King Wen and King Wu The founding fathers of the Zhou Dynasty., the systems of manufacture were not yet fully finalized. In instances where the ritual systems of the Shang still persisted into the Zhou, the inscriptions on the Zun and Yi vessels were not easily changed meaning they retained the terminology and styles of the preceding dynasty..

Today, the Duke of Shao Zun 召公 (Shao Gong), a prominent statesman at the start of the Zhou Dynasty. and the Wen Kao vessels are all objects from the Zhou era, yet they are also referred to as "Yi." This is the underlying reason for that naming convention. There are fourteen Zun from the Shang Dynasty, nineteen Zun from the Zhou Dynasty, and eight Lei Lei (罍): A large, ornate vessel for wine or water, often decorated with cloud and thunder patterns. vessels. Their illustrations and descriptions are detailed in the Bogu Tu original: 博古圖 (Xuanhe Bogu Tu). An influential 12th-century catalog of ancient bronzes compiled during the Song Dynasty..