.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
Descriptif du lot
The present vessel belongs to the rare category of miniature bronzes known in Chinese as nongqi 弄器 (playful vessels), a distinctive group that differs from conventional ritual bronzes in both scale and function. Archaeological evidence suggests that such miniatures were often separated from the ritual bronzes and occasionally placed within their own containers, suggesting a special significance that remains imperfectly understood. As these miniatures are often excavated alongside exotic objects, a few scholars have speculated that they might have been made for women who came from outside the main Zhou states and married into the Zhou nobility.
As this type of vessel is not self-named by the surviving inscriptions, modern scholars have classified them under a variety of terms, including yi, xiyi, ding and yiding. Today, they are more commonly identified as liuding 流鼎 (spouted-ding). Considering the size of the present vessel, it may be more precise to describe it as a xiaoliuding 小流鼎 (small spouted-ding). Significantly, unlike many miniature bronzes that replicate established ritual vessel forms, liuding vessels appear to have been produced primarily as miniatures, a feature that makes them among the most distinctive members of the nongqi group.
The nongqi tradition appears to have enjoyed only a brief period of production and use, and surviving examples remain comparatively few in number. Among this already rare group, liuding vessels are an especially rare subtype. Within the liuding group, examples retaining their covers are even more scarce, making the present example exceptionally significant. A comparable xiaoliuding with a later matched cover was sold at Christie’s London, 3 November 2020, lot 10. Another similar xiaoliuding with a tiger-form handle on its cover was sold in Magnificent Ritual Bronzes - Property From The Collection Of Julius Eberhardt; Sotheby’s New York, 17 September 2013, lot 6. Another closely related example with a puppy-form handle on the cover was in the Shanxi Provincial Museum, and is illustrated in Selected Cultural Relics from Local Museums Shanxi – Bronzes, Shanxi, 1995, p. 69, no. 103. Among the currently known covered examples, the covers are typically decorated with a tiger accompanied by two monkeys or with a single puppy. The present vessel is distinguished by a rare single monkey-form handle on the cover, depicted with one arm raised.
As this type of vessel is not self-named by the surviving inscriptions, modern scholars have classified them under a variety of terms, including yi, xiyi, ding and yiding. Today, they are more commonly identified as liuding 流鼎 (spouted-ding). Considering the size of the present vessel, it may be more precise to describe it as a xiaoliuding 小流鼎 (small spouted-ding). Significantly, unlike many miniature bronzes that replicate established ritual vessel forms, liuding vessels appear to have been produced primarily as miniatures, a feature that makes them among the most distinctive members of the nongqi group.
The nongqi tradition appears to have enjoyed only a brief period of production and use, and surviving examples remain comparatively few in number. Among this already rare group, liuding vessels are an especially rare subtype. Within the liuding group, examples retaining their covers are even more scarce, making the present example exceptionally significant. A comparable xiaoliuding with a later matched cover was sold at Christie’s London, 3 November 2020, lot 10. Another similar xiaoliuding with a tiger-form handle on its cover was sold in Magnificent Ritual Bronzes - Property From The Collection Of Julius Eberhardt; Sotheby’s New York, 17 September 2013, lot 6. Another closely related example with a puppy-form handle on the cover was in the Shanxi Provincial Museum, and is illustrated in Selected Cultural Relics from Local Museums Shanxi – Bronzes, Shanxi, 1995, p. 69, no. 103. Among the currently known covered examples, the covers are typically decorated with a tiger accompanied by two monkeys or with a single puppy. The present vessel is distinguished by a rare single monkey-form handle on the cover, depicted with one arm raised.