Lot Essay
The inscription may be read, "Shu made this precious sacrificial vessel".
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EARLY/MID-WESTERN ZHOU DYNASTY, 11TH-9TH CENTURY BC
Details
A RARE BRONZE RITUAL TRIPOD FOOD VESSEL AND COVER, DING
EARLY/MID-WESTERN ZHOU DYNASTY, 11TH-9TH CENTURY BC
The slightly spreading body raised on three slender, tapering legs, the upper body cast in thread relief with two taotie masks formed by the elongated bodies of two dragons with oblong eyes in relief and scroll-filled bodies below a line of quills, with a pair of upright U-shaped handles bent upwards from the decorative band below the projecting lip and interior upright rim, the base of one handle flanked on one side by a panel enclosing a plumed bird and a scroll on the other side, the base of the other handle flanked by a partial taotie and a scroll, the slightly domed cover surmounted by an arched handle and three flat dragon-mask finials rising from a narrow band of diagonal scrolls and 'eyes', with a five-character inscription cast in the bottom of the vessel and inside the cover, with olive-grey patina and areas of malachite encrustation
8¼ in. (21 cm.) high
EARLY/MID-WESTERN ZHOU DYNASTY, 11TH-9TH CENTURY BC
The slightly spreading body raised on three slender, tapering legs, the upper body cast in thread relief with two taotie masks formed by the elongated bodies of two dragons with oblong eyes in relief and scroll-filled bodies below a line of quills, with a pair of upright U-shaped handles bent upwards from the decorative band below the projecting lip and interior upright rim, the base of one handle flanked on one side by a panel enclosing a plumed bird and a scroll on the other side, the base of the other handle flanked by a partial taotie and a scroll, the slightly domed cover surmounted by an arched handle and three flat dragon-mask finials rising from a narrow band of diagonal scrolls and 'eyes', with a five-character inscription cast in the bottom of the vessel and inside the cover, with olive-grey patina and areas of malachite encrustation
8¼ in. (21 cm.) high
Provenance
Sotheby's, London, 14 March 1972, lot 13.
Literature
N. Barnard and Cheung Kwong-yue, Rubbings and Hand Copies of Bronze Inscriptions in Chinese, Japanese, European, American, and Australasian Collections, Taipei, 1978, no. 739, where the ding is located in the Brundage Collection.
Hayashi Minao, In Shu jidai seidoki no kenkyu, Tokyo, 1984, vol. 2, pl. 7, pl. 18, ding no. 198 (but with inscription for Sackler no. 16.).
J. Rawson, Western Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, vol. IIB, The Arthur M. Sackler Foundation, 1990, pp. 270-5, no. 15.
Hayashi Minao, In Shu jidai seidoki no kenkyu, Tokyo, 1984, vol. 2, pl. 7, pl. 18, ding no. 198 (but with inscription for Sackler no. 16.).
J. Rawson, Western Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, vol. IIB, The Arthur M. Sackler Foundation, 1990, pp. 270-5, no. 15.
Exhibited
Exhibition of Ostasiatische Kunst und Chinoiserie, Köln, Germany, 1953.
Art from Ritual: Ancient Chinese Bronze Vessels from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, The Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1983, no. 41.
Art from Ritual: Ancient Chinese Bronze Vessels from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, The Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1983, no. 41.
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