ARCHAIC BRONZE RITUAL FOOD VESSEL AND COVER (DING).

CHINA.

WARRING STATES PERIOD.

475 - 221 BC.

H. 20 CMS, 8 INS.

W. (ACROSS HANDLES). 24.2 CMS, 9 ½ INS.

A fine archaic bronze ritual food vessel and cover (ding), the globular body standing on three cabriole legs and set with two upright arch handles with rope-twist borders; the gently domed cover set with three loop finials, the body divided by a horizontal ridge separating two finely cast bands of dragon scrolls in flat relief, the cover with three further bands of dragon scrolls, the bronze bearing a greyish-green patina with some areas of brighter encrustation.

Note: The three loop finials on the cover are for use as feet when the vessel is upturned as a dish.

For a similar example see no 61A in William Watson, Ancient Chinese Bronzes, Faber and Faber, 1977. For another vessel in the Stuttgart Museum, see fig. 11 in J. Kalter et al, Ferne Völker Frühe Zeiten: Kunstwerke aus dem Linden-Museum, Stuttgart, 1982.

PROVENANCE: Private English collection. Acquired by the owner’s father during employment with the British Foreign Service during the 1950s or 1960s.