A bronze tripod pouring vessel with cover (liu ding), Early Spring and Autumn period, 8th-7th century BC. Photo: Sothebys.

the flat cover well cast in relief with a pair of symmetrically entwined serpent-dragons with their heads emerging at opposite sides near the rim, encircling the centrally positioned tiger-form handle, aligned with two crouching monkeys, the underside of the cover with three small serpent-dragon masks cast in relief to serve as stops to hold the cover in place, the rounded sides supported by three cabriole legs and cast in flat relief with a frieze of scales in two horizontal bands below a border of double-ring pattern under an everted rim, interrupted by a short spout in the form of a tiger head, the two upright loop handles joined by struts to the rim, all with traces of the black inlay remaining in the recessed areas, the patina of gray-green with areas of encrustation. Length 4 7/8  in., 12.4 cm. Estimation 150,000 — 200,000 USD

Provenance: Collection of Walter Hochstadter (1914-2007).
J.J. Lally & Co., New York, 2011.

Exposition: Ancient Chinese Bronzes, J.J. Lally & Co., New York, Spring 2011, cat. no. 6 

Notes: This thoughtfully designed and well-cast small ding vessel belongs to the category ofnongqi (playful vessels), which were made for the personal enjoyment of high ranking aristocrats; compare a group of nongqi, unearthed from Hancheng city, Shaanxi province illustrated in Jinyunianhua, Shanxi Hancheng chutu Zhoudai Ruiguo wenwuzhenpin (Golden age of the Rui state: Zhou Dynasty treasures from Hanchengcity, Shaanxi province), Shanghai, 2012, pp. 216-217.

A bronze covered liu ding of very similar form and decoration, but lacking the monkeys on the cover, unearthed in 1989 in Shangma village, Houma city, Shanxi province, now in the collection of the Shanxi Provincial Museum, is illustrated inZhongguo wenwujinghua dacidian: Qingtong juan (Dictionary of gems of Chinese cultural relics: Bronzes), Shanghai, 1992, p. 176, no. 0619; another is in the collection of the Shanghai Museum and was included in the exhibition Treasures from Shanghai: Ancient Chinese Bronzes and Jades, The British Museum, London, 2009, p.102, cat. no. 36; the same ding is also illustrated in Chen Peifen, Xia Shang Zhou qingtongqi quanji: Dong Zhou, Yi (Compendium of Chinese bronzes: Eastern Zhou, volume one), Beijing, 1995, p. 32, no. 445.

Sotheby's. Magnificent Ritual Bronzes – Property from the Collection of Julius Eberhardt. New York | 17 sept. 2013 - http://www.sothebys.com