Page 77 - Deydier VOL.2 Meiyintang Collection of Chinese Bronses

161. Ritual bronze food vessel li
Shang dynasty, early Erligang period, circa 16 century bc.
th
商代二里岡早期青銅鬲
Height: 22.5 cm, Diameter: 16 cm

An archaic bronze food vessel li with a tri-lobed bulbous Provenance:
body supported on three slender, cone-shaped tapering ▪ Private Collection, Japan.
legs. The vessel’s short neck opens outwards at its top to ▪ Galerie Christian Deydier, Paris, France.
form a wide, hat-brim-like lip that encircles the vessel
and is topped by a pair of arch-like handles. Each of the Exhibited:
vessel’s lobes is decorated with very simple lines in low ▪ Trésors de la Chine ancienne, Bronzes Rituels De La
relief. Collection Meiyintang, Musée des arts asiatiques
Guimet, Paris 13 mars - 10 juin 2013, catalogue no. 13.
Some prominent mold marks are visible on the vessel.
Published:
The vessel has a brownish green patina with areas of ▪ Guimet, Musée des arts asiatiques, Trésors de la
cuprite incrustations. Chine ancienne, Bronzes Rituels De La Collection
Meiyintang, Paris 2013, p. 33, no. 13.
Similar examples:
▪ Some similar li vessels excavated in 1954 in Zhengzhou,
Henan province, are illustrated in Henan Chutu Shang
Zhou Qingtongqi, Vol. 1, Beijing 1981, p. 45, nos. 42 -
43 and p. 46, no. 44.
▪ Another li, excavated in 1974, in Tuling, Zhanghai
Nanjie, Shanxi Province, is illustrated by Deydier Ch.,
Les Bronzes Archaïques Chinois - Archaic Chinese
Bronzes - I - Xia & Shang, Volume I, Paris 1995, p. 51,
nos. 2 - 3.

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