Lot 246. An archaic bronze tripod food vessel (Ding), Late Shang dynasty. Heigh 21.5 cm. Lot Sold 19,050 GBP (Estimate 8,000 - 12,000 GBP). © Sotheby's 2024

cast with a clan pictogram reading he.

Provenance: Acquired in Hong Kong, 1985.

Note: Compare two closely related examples, excavated at Guojiazhuang and Xiaomintun respectively, near Anyang in Henan province, now in the collection of the Archaeological Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing, illustrated in Zhongguo qingtongqi quanji [Complete series on Chinese bronzes], vol. 2, Beijing 1997, pls 58 and 59; another two, discovered in Huangcai town, Ningxiang city, Hunan province and the other in Lulong county, Hebei province, illustrated in Robert W. Bagley, Shang Ritual Bronzes in the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, Washington DC, 1987, p. 488, figs 3.3 and 93.4, respectively. Compare also one, in a slightly smaller size, sold in our New York rooms, 22nd March 2022, lot 619; one, from the collection of J.T. Tai, sold in our New York rooms, 22nd March 2011, lot 8; and one sold these rooms, 10th November 2010, lot 209.

Sotheby's. China/5000 Years, London, 17 May 2024