A RITUAL BRONZE CAULDRON, DING
China, Western Zhou dynasty

Three square section legs support the large container with a mouth highlighted by a border on which handles are placed, the upper part of the body enriched with a band engraved and embossed for a decoration of taotie masks, between which round medallions with spiral curls are inserted.

22 cm high

Provenance : Fabrizio Savi collection, acquired from a private collector in Bruxelles between 1995 and 2000.
The ding is probably the most emblematic of the bronze ritual containers of archaic China. In particular, during the Western Zhou period it became an emblem of the rank of the deceased in whose tomb it was buried.
The elegant decoration on this cauldron began to appear already in the late Shang period (J. Rawson, Western Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, 2 voll, Cambridge (MS) 1999, pp. 258-259, n. 11).