Lot 257. An inscribed archaic bronze ritual food vessel (Ding), Late Shang-Early Western Zhou Dynasty. Height 9⅞ in., 25 cm. Lot sold: 37,800 USD (Estimate: 30,000 - 50,000 USD). © Sotheby's 2022

cast to the interior with a three-character inscription reading Ran fu ding.

Property from the Estate of Richard Rubin.

Provenance: Hartman Rare Art, Inc., New York, 5th June 1984.

Note: The clan sign on the present ding is extremely rare. Only one other example bearing the same pictogram appears to be published. See a late Shang dynasty bronze jue cast with a three-character inscription reading Wu Zu Gui 𠆸祖癸, in the Shanghai Museum, Shanghai, published in The Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, ed., Yinzhou jinwen jicheng [Compendium of Yin and Zhou bronze inscriptions], Beijing, 2007, no. 08360.

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art, New York, 21 september 2022