A very rare bronze ritual tripod food vessel, ding, Western Zhou dynasty, 10th century BC

Lot 3127. A very rare bronze ritual tripod food vessel, ding, Western Zhou dynasty, 10th century BC; 7 1/8 in. (18 cm.) high. Estimate HKD 380,000 - HKD 450,000. Price realised HKD 800,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2010.

Raised on three tapering columnar legs, the swelling body finely cast near the top with a narrow band of six low-relief stylised kui dragons, below a pair of upright loop handles rising from the everted rim, with a twelve-character pictogram cast on the side of the interior, with a pale green patina and patches of malachite encrustation, box.

Provenance: An American Midwestern Estate, circa 1960s, sold at Sotheby's New York, 20 March 2007, lot 529.

Note: The pictogram may be translated as:
Bo Jiang awarded Cong strings of cowrie shells;
Cong used them to make this precious ding vessel.