EARLY SPRING AND AUTUMN PERIOD, 8TH CENTURY BC

Details

A BRONZE RITUAL TRIPOD FOOD VESSEL, DING
EARLY SPRING AND AUTUMN PERIOD, 8TH CENTURY BC
The vessel is raised on three tall supports and is flat-cast around the sides with two rows of overlapping 'feathers' below a bow-string border and a band of horizontal scales. A pair of bail handles rises from the flat, everted rim. An inscription is cast below the rim on the interior.
9½ in. (24 cm.) wide, Japanese wood box

Provenance

Acquired from Inayama Bijutsu, Japan in June 1980.

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Lot Essay

The inscription cast on the interior of the vessel may be translated as: 'The minister of construction of the State of Lu, Jifu, made this jiangding ding [and] wished for ten thousand years of longevity and to be forever treasured by sons and grandsons.'

The combination of 'feather' and scale decoration on this ding can be seen on the ZhongYi Fu ling in the Shanghai Museum, dated 9th-8th century BC, and reportedly from the area of Shaanxi Fufeng Xian, illustrated by J. So in Eastern Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, The Arthur M. Sackler Foundation, 1995, p. 225, fig. 36.5.

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