A RARE LARGE AND FINELY CAST BRONZE RITUAL TRIPOD FOOD VESSEL AND COVER, DING, SPRING AND AUTUMN PERIOD, EARLY TO MID-6TH CENTURY BC

A RARE LARGE AND FINELY CAST BRONZE RITUAL TRIPOD FOOD VESSEL AND COVER, DING
SPRING AND AUTUMN PERIOD, EARLY TO MID-6TH CENTURY BC
The vessel has a deep, rounded body raised on three tall legs that splay at the bottom, and is flat cast around the sides with two registers of abstract interlaced dragons, all above a frieze of pendent lappets each containing a taotie mask set amidst hooked scrolls and curls. Further similar bands of abstract dragons decorate the inward and outward faces of the upright handles as well as two bands of the shallow domed cover. Below these two bands is a narrow plain band trisected by three fixed ring finials and an outer band of angular scroll with curled ends reserved on a leiwen ground. The center of the cover is cast with a medallion enclosing a feline with granulated body set within a narrow band of dragons. The bronze has an attractive mottled grey and blue-green patina.
20 ¾ in. (52.7 cm.) wide across handles

Provenance

Gisèle Croës, Brussels, May 2000.

PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE AMERICAN COLLECTION