Lot 18. A bronze ritual tripod vessel (li ding), Late Shang-Early Western Zhou Dynasty, 12th-11th century BC. Height 8 3/8  in., 21.2 cm. Estimate 80,000 — 120,000 USD. Lot sold 317,000 USD. Photo: Sothebys.

the body supported on three slender cylindrical legs, divided into three lobes, each decorated in relief with ataotie mask with raised eyes, ‘C’ shaped horns and curved fangs, flanked by descending kui dragons, all with fine intaglios reserved on a leiwen ground, the neck cast with a band of leiwen scrolls beneath the everted rim set with two upright loop handles, a two-character inscription in the interior reading fu xing, the smooth bright green patina with traces of black inlay in the recessed areas. 

Provenance: Acquired from Professor Alfred Salmony, 1953. 

Note: Described by Dr. Salmony, "this tripod is one of the most attractive and at the same time one of the most typical among the Chinese ritual vessels". The present li ding is particularly notable for its elegant form and superb proportion; compare a similar li ding vessel with sturdy legs, excavated from Guojiazhuang village, Anyang city, Henan province illustrated in the Yinxu xinchutu qingtongqi (Ritual Bronzes Recently Excavated in Yinxu), Kunming, 2008, pp. 232-233, no. 113. It is also notable that the jade-like green patina on this li ding is one of the most admired types of patina on archaic bronzes. 

This piece was acquired from Alfred Salmony, the renowned art historian in Far Eastern arts who served as curator of the Cologne Museum of the Far East from 1920 to 1933. In 1934, he immigrated to the U.S. and became the Oriental Art specialist at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University. In New York, Dr. Salmony helped C.T. Loo on several catalogues including the ground-breaking Sino-Siberian Art in the Collection of C.T. Loo. This piece is accompanied by an unpublished essay written by Dr. Salmony, which is available upon request.