Page 18 - Ancient Chinese Bronzes, 2011, J.J. Lally, New York

5. A n A r c h a i c B r o n z e R i t u a l T r i p o d F o o d Ve s s e l ( L I D I N G )
Middle Western Zhou Dynasty, 9th Century B.C.

with wide flaring plain rim, the body divided into three wide lobes tapering down to slender columnar
legs, cast with densely packed narrow slanting ridges all around the sides, highlighted by a black
ground between the ridges, and with a thick wedge-shaped vertical flange projecting above each
leg, the surface showing lightly encrusted malachite green patina over a reddish cuprite underlayer
and with charcoal-black encrustation on the base.

3
Height 6 ⁄8 inches (16.2 cm)
A bronze li tripod vessel of very similar form and design in the collection of National Palace Museum, Taipei, is illustrated
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by Hayashi in In Shu jidai seidoki no kenkyu (Study of the Yin and Zhou Bronze Vessels), Vol. I, Tokyo, 1984, p. 64, no. 33.
An archaic bronze li of related shape, formerly in the collection of Mrs. Christian Holmes, New York, and now in the Freer
and Sackler Galleries, Washington D.C., is illustrated by Rawson in Western Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler
Collections, Vol. IIB, Cambridge, 1990, pp. 320–323, no. 27, together with a Western Zhou pottery li tripod of similar design
in the British Museum, ibid, p. 322, fig. 27.3. Rawson suggests that bronze li tripods of this kind were based on Western Zhou
pottery prototypes.
Another bronze li tripod of related form, with twin upright loop handles on the rim, is illustrated by Wang in Chinese Bronzes
from the Meiyintang Collection, London, 2009, pp. 93–94, no. 94.
西周中期 銅鬲鼎 高 16.2 厘米