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Lot Essay
The graph cast on the interior of the vessel, possibly reading li, is shaped like a triangularly lobed vessel with handles, and has been described by Zou Heng in Xia Shang Zhou kaoguxue lunwen ji, Beijing, 1980, pp. 345-52, as a clan sign of the Zhou area. J. Rawson, however, points out in The Bella and P.P. Chiu Collection of Ancient Chinese Bronzes, Hong Kong, 1988, p. 42, that the same graph is cast on bronze vessels that "have come from Henan as well as Shaanxi."
An almost identical li ding is illustrated by J.A. Pope et al., The Freer Chinese Bronzes, Washington, 1967, vol. I, pl. 31 (47.11), where it is dated Shang dynasty, late Anyang, 11th century BC. (Fig. 1) A li ding with similar relief-cast taotie masks on the sides, but with low-relief dragons in the frieze below the rim, and lacking the intaglio decoration on the legs, is illustrated in Shang Ritual Bronzes in the Palace Museum Collection, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1998, pp. 216-19, no. 24. Other li ding of similar date, and with related taotie masks cast in relief, but with a frieze of cicadas below the rim and also lacking the intaglio decoration on the legs, include one illustrated by R.W. Bagley, Shang Ritual Bronzes in the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, The Arthur M. Sackler Foundation, 1987, pp. 484-85; two illustrated by C. Deydier, Les Bronzes Chinois, Paris, 1980, p. 215, nos. 1 (Museum für Ostasiastiche Kunst, Cologne) and 2 (Ashmolean Museum, Oxford); and the example sold at Christie's New York, 23 March 2012, lot 1517.
An almost identical li ding is illustrated by J.A. Pope et al., The Freer Chinese Bronzes, Washington, 1967, vol. I, pl. 31 (47.11), where it is dated Shang dynasty, late Anyang, 11th century BC. (Fig. 1) A li ding with similar relief-cast taotie masks on the sides, but with low-relief dragons in the frieze below the rim, and lacking the intaglio decoration on the legs, is illustrated in Shang Ritual Bronzes in the Palace Museum Collection, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1998, pp. 216-19, no. 24. Other li ding of similar date, and with related taotie masks cast in relief, but with a frieze of cicadas below the rim and also lacking the intaglio decoration on the legs, include one illustrated by R.W. Bagley, Shang Ritual Bronzes in the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, The Arthur M. Sackler Foundation, 1987, pp. 484-85; two illustrated by C. Deydier, Les Bronzes Chinois, Paris, 1980, p. 215, nos. 1 (Museum für Ostasiastiche Kunst, Cologne) and 2 (Ashmolean Museum, Oxford); and the example sold at Christie's New York, 23 March 2012, lot 1517.