Page 62 - Christies September 13 to 14th Fine Chinese Works of Art New York
P. 62

THE PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN
          1118
          A BRONZE RITUAL TRIPOD FOOD VESSEL AND COVER, DING  PROVENANCE
          LATE SPRING AND AUTUMN PERIOD,                      Acquired in Hong Kong, 1991.
          LATE 6TH-EARLY 5TH CENTURY BC
                                                              The inscriptions on this ding vessel are engraved rather than cast. In the
          The vessel is raised on three legs and has a pair of upswept handles cast with   late Spring and Autumn period, the development of iron metallurgy allowed
          scroll decoration. The body is fat-cast with two bands of diferent dragon   craftsmen to inscribe and decorate the bronze with tools that are harder
          scroll separated by a bow-string band and repeated on the domed cover where   than bronze. Despite the technical advancement, piece-mold casting
          they are separated by a plain band interrupted by three recumbent rams. In   technique remained as the predominant fabrication method of bronzes.
          the center is a medallion formed by overlapping scrolls which is encircled by   The inscriptions, nanli (southern li), zuo (left), and nan (south) probably
          another plain band isncribed with three characters, possibly reading nanli zuo.   indicate the placement of this vessel in ritual context.
          The exterior of one leg is inscribed with a single character, nan. The patina
          is of golden-brown color and there is extensive malachite and some azurite   The wide band of dragon scroll on this ding is very similar to that seen on
          encrustation on the interior.                       a bronze ding to the dated late Spring and Autumn period, late 6th-early 5th
                                                              century BC, North Central China, Shanxi-Henan provinces and illustrated
          11Ω in. (29.3 cm.) wide across handles
                                                              by J. So in Eastern Zhou Ritual Bronzes in the Arthur M. Sackler Collections,
                                                              The Arthur M. Sackler Foundation, 1995, pp. 146-49, no. 17, and shown in
          $30,000-50,000
                                                              a rubbing, p. 148. Also illustrated are drawings of two ding from Shanxi
                                                              province, ibid., p. 149, fgs. 17.2 and 17.3, as well as a fragment of a ceramic
                                                              pattern model from Houma city, Shanxi province, fg. 17.4.
                                                              春秋晚期   青銅交龍紋鼎
                                           (inscription on the cover)
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