Page 10 - Bonhams Asian Art London November 5, 2020

THE PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN 紳士藏品

1
A RARE ARCHAIC BRONZE INSCRIBED RITUAL FOOD VESSEL, DING
Late Shang/Early Western Zhou Dynasty
The globular body flanked by two upright loop handles and supported
on three cylindrical legs, crisply cast under the rim with a band of
C-scrolls and taotie masks with prominent eyes, the wall of the interior
cast with a five-character inscription, the bronze covered with an
attractive olive patina with areas of encrustation.
15.5cm (16 1/8in) high.

£20,000 - 30,000
CNY180,000 - 260,000

商晚期/西周早期 青銅饕餮紋三足鼎

Provenance: an English private collection
來源：英國私人收藏

The inscription Zuo muji zunyi 作母己尊彝 may be translated as A bronze ritual vessel ding, Shang dynasty, decorated with similar
‘This sacrifical vessel was made for mother Ji’. designs as the present example, is illustrated in the National Palace
Museum, A Catalogue of Shang Dynasty Bronze Inscriptions, Taipei,
Ritual bronze vessels such as the present lot were among the most 1995, pp.36-37.
highly prized and technically sophisticated objects manufactured in
early China. Reserved for use by the most powerful families of the Compare with a related but slightly larger archaic bronze ding, Western
time, they carried the offerings presented to the ancestors during the Zhou dynasty, which was sold at Christie’s New York, 4 March 2011,
performance of rituals. lot 1246. See also another bronze ding, late Shang dynasty, which was
sold at Christie’s New York, 21-22 March 2013, lot 1216.
These vessels were often cast with inscriptions which recorded the
land and regional affiliations of the ancestors and their wider family.
Honoured and commemorated through the use of these precious
vessels, the ancestral spirits were thought to confer blessings on their
descendants while at the same time, the use of the vessel displayed to
the living the power and wealth of their owners.

For details of the charges payable in addition to the final Hammer Price of each Lot
8 | BONHAMS please refer to paragraphs 7 & 8 of the Notice to Bidders at the back of the catalogue.