Page 34 - Christies September 13 to 14th Fine Chinese Works of Art New York

PROPERTY FROM THE MACLEAN COLLECTION, ILLINOIS
1110
A BRONZE RITUAL TRIPOD FOOD VESSEL, DING
LATE SHANG DYNASTY, 13TH-12TH CENTURY BC
The rounded body is raised on three columnar legs cast in intaglio with triangles pendent from a scroll
band and is cast in relief around the sides with three large taotie masks centered and divided by notched
fanges, reserved on a fne leiwen ground and below a pair of bail handles that rise from the rim. The
bronze has an olive-green patina with some encrustation and traces of black inlay in the recessed areas.
Together with a line drawing of the present lot by Hongwei Dong.
9º in. (23.5 cm.) high

$200,000-300,000

PROVENANCE
Wui Po Kok, Hong Kong, 2000.
LITERATURE
R. A. Pegg and Lidong Zhang, The MacLean Collection: Chinese Ritual Bronzes, Chicago, 2010,
pp. 46-7, no. 5.
Ding vessels decorated with a single frieze of large taotie frst appeared at the beginning of the late
Shang dynasty, circa late 13th century BC., and continued to be popular throughout the late Shang
period. The robust shape and vigorous high-relief decoration of this ding represent the artistic
apogee of bronze casting in the late Shang dynasty and are very similar to that of ding found in the
late Shang capital Yinxu at modern day Anyang city, Henan province, such as the three illustrated in
Zhongguo qingtongqi quanji (Complete Collection of Chinese Bronzes), vol. 2: Shang 2, Beijing, 1997,
nos. 11, 16, and 19. See, also, a similar ding sold at Christie’s New York, 24 March 2011, lot 1234.
商晚期 青銅饕餮紋鼎

Accompanying line drawing by Hongwei Dong.

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