An Unusual Bronze Ritual Tripod Cooking Vessel And A Cover, Ding. Mid-Western Zhou Dynasty, 9th Century BC

An Unusual Bronze Ritual Tripod Cooking Vessel And A Cover, Ding. Mid-Western Zhou Dynasty, 9th Century BC

The slightly spreading body raised on three tall, tapering supports, and encircled below the rim with a band cast in thread relief with three elongated taotie masks formed by pairs of dragons with large oblong eyes and quilled bands confronted on a narrow flange, each followed by an extra segment filled with an eye surrounded by scrolls, the band interrupted by a pair of upright U-shaped handles, the slightly domed cover with sharp edge and cast with a narrow band of eyes and scrolls interrupted by three upright bird finials surrounding an angular loop handle, with a three-character inscription cast on one side of the interior and inside the cover, the surface mottled with green and azurite encrustation. 11¾ in. (30 cm.) high. Estimate 80,000 - $120,000

西周中期 青銅帶蓋鼎
公元前9世紀

Provenance: Sotheby's, London, 14 March 1972, lot 13.

Literature: Luo Zhenyu, Zhen Song Tang ji gu yiwen, xubian, 1931, 1.16.2 and 1.16.3.
Luo Zhenyu, Sandai jijin wen cun, 1937, 2.33.3 and 2.33.4. (Rong Geng & Zhang Weichi 1958, p. 150.)
Zhou Fagao, Zhang Risheng and Huang Quiyue, Sandai jijin wen cun zhulu biao, Taipei, 1977, nos. 428 and 429.
Sun Zhichu, Jinwen zhulu jian mu, Beijing, 1981, nos. 0408 and 0409.
Hayashi Minao, In Shu jidai seidoki no kenkyu (In Shu seidoki soran ni), Tokyo, 1986, vol. 2, pl. 20, ding no. 222.
J. Rawson, Western Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, vol. IIB, The Arthur M. Sackler Foundation, 1990, pp. 276-7, no. 16.

Exhibited: Ostasiatische Kunst und Chinoiserie, Köln, Germany, 1953, no. 26.

Notes: The three-character inscription may be translated, "X made this sacrificial vessel". In Western Zhou Ritual Bronzes in the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, 1990, p. 277, the author, Jessica Rawson states that in the publications in which the ding and cover had been previously published it was assumed that the vessel and cover were not originally made for each other, even though they are cast with "identically worded inscriptions".

Christie's. Fine Chinese Art From The Arthur M. Sackler Collections. 18 March 2009  New York, Rockefeller Plaza www.christies.com Image Christie's Ltd 2009