AN UNUSUAL BRONZE RITUAL TRIPOD VESSEL AND COVER, DING

EASTERN ZHOU DYNASTY, LATE SPRING AND AUTUMN PERIOD, LATE 6TH-EARLY 5TH CENTURY BC

Details

AN UNUSUAL BRONZE RITUAL TRIPOD VESSEL AND COVER, DING
EASTERN ZHOU DYNASTY, LATE SPRING AND AUTUMN PERIOD, LATE 6TH-EARLY 5TH CENTURY BC
The hemispherical body raised on three cabriole legs surmounted by taotie masks, and with a pair of upright handles decorated with S-shaped dragons, the sides flat-cast with wide and narrow bands of scroll-filled, interlaced dragon pattern separated by a narrow rope-twist border and repeated on the cover where they are separated by a plain border applied with three ring handles cast with diamond scroll pattern, the center with an openwork medallion of four petals surrounded by hooked scrolls encircled by a raised band cast with a double braid pattern
11½ in. (29.2 cm.) across handles

Provenance

C.T. Loo & Co., Paris, no. 37/02.
D. David-Weill Collection; Sotheby's, London, 29 February 1972, lot 143.

Literature

J. So, Eastern Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, The Arthur M. Sackler Foundation, 1995, pp. 142-3, no. 16.

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Lot Essay

Similar vessels are illustrated by d'Argencé in Treasures from the Shanghai Museum: 6,000 Years of Chinese Art, Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, 1983, p. 86, no. 42, and by A.J. Koop, Early Chinese Bronzes, London, 1924, pl. 30. The pattern of interlocking dragons seen on all three of these vessels was widely used during the late Spring and Autumn period.
The distinctive feature of this vessel is the openwork center of the cover, which J. So in Eastern Zhou Ritual Vessels from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, 1995, p. 144, compares to openwork circular ornaments recovered from excavations at Shanxi Chang-zhi and Henan Hui Xian Liulige.

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