AN ARCHAIC BRONZE TRIPOD VESSEL, DING

Details

AN ARCHAIC BRONZE TRIPOD VESSEL, DING
SHANG/ZHOU DYNASTY

Of well cast, rounded triangular section, cast in low relief with a band of confronted kui dragons, with prominent oval eyes, curled horns and hooked fangs, each with a long body and scrolled tail, on a leiwen ground, confronted on vertical flanges and forming taotie masks, the lipped rim set on each side with triple-stranded loop handles, raised on slightly tapered, cylindrical legs linked by radiating struts in relief on the underside, the patination of olive-brown color--8 in. (20.3cm.)

Lot Essay

A ding of this pattern excavated from a late Shang tomb at Mangzhang, Luoshan county, Henan, is illustrated in Kaogu, 1981, no. 2, pl. 3, fig. 1 and p. 114, fig. 4 (2); and another by Karlgren, 'Yin and Chou in Chinese Bronzes', B.M.F.E.A., Stockholm, 1935, pl. IV, no. A 247. A nearly identical decorative band can be seen on a pan, or basin, that was part of the Chen-Chen set of bronzes believed to have come from the area of Loyang, Henan, illustrated by William Charles White, Bronze Culture of Ancient China, Toronto, 1956, p. 141, pl. LXXI