17TH-18TH CENTURY

The unusual band of alternating four-petaled flowers and flower-filled roundels below the rim appear to be an archaistic interpretation of the band of bosses cast with spiraling commas that alternate with 'stars' seen on some early Western Zhou bronze ding that share a shape similar to the present cloisonné ding. One of these bronzes is illustrated in a woodcut in the Xiqing gujian, compiled in 1749, vol. 1, no. 11, where it is dated Shang dynasty. A bronze ding dated to early Western Zhou dynasty that has the same decorative band is illustrated by Jessica Rawson in Western Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, vol. IIB, Arthur M. Sackler Foundation, 1990, pp. 260-61, no. 12.