Lot Essay
The shape of this bowl is unusually deep and globular. Two similar covered vessels of this shape with rings suspended from the cover, but lacking the handles are in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Zhongguo Yuqi Quanji, vol. 6, pl. 100 and pl. 107. A related covered bowl with rings suspended from the cover and handles was sold at Christie's Hong Kong, The Personal Collection of Alan and Simone Hartman, 28 November 2006, lot 1389.
The shape of the present vessel is loosely based on an archaic bronze shape, the ding, dating from the 6th and 5th centuries B. C., such as the example from the Museum of Eastern Art, Oxford, illustrated by William Watson, Ancient Chinese Bronzes, London, 1977, pl. 66a. The ding was a food container that is typically characterised by a rounded body, three columnar legs, upright flange handles and loop handles on the cover. In its Qing archaistic form, only the shape of the body prevailed.
The shape of the present vessel is loosely based on an archaic bronze shape, the ding, dating from the 6th and 5th centuries B. C., such as the example from the Museum of Eastern Art, Oxford, illustrated by William Watson, Ancient Chinese Bronzes, London, 1977, pl. 66a. The ding was a food container that is typically characterised by a rounded body, three columnar legs, upright flange handles and loop handles on the cover. In its Qing archaistic form, only the shape of the body prevailed.