Lot 1228. A massive ritual bronze tripod food vessel, ding, Spring and Autumn period (770-476 BC); 21 1/8 in. (53.6 cm.) across handles. Estimate 150,000 - USD 200,000. Price realised USD 291,750. © Christie's Images Ltd 2013

The deep, rounded body is raised on three tall feet issuing from elaborate stylized taotie masks. The vessel is cast with two continuous bands of geometric scroll separated by a bow-string band. The thick, everted bail handles are cast with a series of scroll patterns in rectangular cartouches.

Provenance: Acquired in Hong Kong in 1991.
The Tsui Museum of Art, Hong Kong.

Exhibited: Gems of Chinese Art, The Empress Place Museum, Singapore, 1992-95, no. 5.
Empire of the Dragons, Aarhus Kunstmuseum, Denmark, 9 February - 26 November 1995, no. 9.

Note: Compare the massive ding dated to the Spring and Autumn period excavated in 1988 from Jinsheng Village, Taiyuan, Shaanxi province, and now in the Shaanxi Province Research Institute of Archaeology, illustrated in Zhongguo Qingtongqi Quanji - 8 - Dong Zhou (2), Beijing, 1995, pp. 15-16, nos. 16-18. Although of even larger size (104 cm. high) than the present example, the Jinzheng ding shares proportions and cast decoration similar to those of the present vessel, as well as very similar robust taotie masks set atop each tall waisted leg.

Christie's. Fine Chinese Furniture, Archaic Bronzes and Works of Art, New York, 21 - 22 March 2013