A BRONZE TRIPOD VESSEL, LI DING

Details

A BRONZE TRIPOD VESSEL, LI DING
SHANG DYNASTY, 11TH CENTURY

The deep sides divided into three lobes, each lobe centered above one of the three columnar supports and crisply cast with a taotie mask on a broad band of leiwen, each divided and separated from the other masks by a narrow, notched flange rising to bisect the narrow band of cicadas cast in shallow relief above, all below a narrow, everted rim cast with a pair of upright, bail handles, the attractive dark gray patina with some green mottling and with green and ferrous oxide encrustation, crack at top of one leg--6¼in. (15.9cm.) across

Lot Essay

Compare a related vessel illustrated by Robert W. Bagley in Shang Ritual Bronzes in the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, Washington D.C., 1987, no. 92, which has similar notched flanges and an upper band of cicadas; in addition, compare no. 90 which also has a band of cicada decoration but rather less pronounced taotie masks