LATE SHANG DYNASTY, 12TH-11TH CENTURY BC

Details

A BRONZE RITUAL TRIPOD FOOD VESSEL, DING
LATE SHANG DYNASTY, 12TH-11TH CENTURY BC
The tri-lobed body is raised on three columnar legs and is cast above each leg with a large taotie mask with rounded eyes, all reserved on a leiwen ground. A pair of inverted U-shaped handles rises from the rim. There is a later-added inscription on one side of the interior. The bronze has a grey and mottled milky-green patina.
8 1/8 in. (20.7 cm.) high

Provenance

With C.T. Loo, Paris, by repute.
Private European Collection, acquired before 1998.

Special notice

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Lot Essay

Liding with large, relief-cast taotie masks on each lobe of the body represent one of the most popular vessel types in the late Shang and early Western Zhou periods. Two very similar liding, from the Sackler Collection, cast with an additional pair of decsending dragons flanking each taotie mask, are illustrated by R. Bagley in Shang Ritual Bronzes in the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, Washington, D. C., 1987, pp. 486-91, nos. 93 and 94. In his entry for the one of the Sackler liding, no. 93, Bagley illustrates seven related liding to support his assertion that there was a "wide geographic distribution of the type in late Anyang times", with a continuation into the early Western Zhou period. Another two liding from a distinguished European collection, were sold at Chrsitie's New York, 22 March 2019, lot 1502 and 1507.

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