A bronze ding ceremonial vessel with three round-section legs, squat body, two lateral square loops, domed lid with three rings; bands of panchi pattern to the exterior surfaces.

PROVENANCE:
Property of a Dutch collector; acquired from Mr. C. Kools, an Asian art restorer and collector in Amsterdam; previously acquired from a private collection in 1991.

PUBLISHED:
Accompanied by an Art Loss Register certificate.

LITERATURE:
Cf. Song, L. Chinese Bronze Ware, Cambridge, 2011, p.14; Christies New York, 21-23 March 2013, lot 1237.

FOOTNOTES:
Ding vessels were prehistoric and ancient Chinese cauldrons, standing upon legs with a lid and two facing handles. They are one of the most important shapes used in Chinese ritual bronzes. They were made in two shapes: round vessels with three legs and rectangular ones with four, the latter often called fanding. They were used for cooking, storage, and ritual offerings to the gods or to ancestors. The earliest recovered examples are pre-Shang ceramic ding at the Erlitou site but they are better known from the Bronze Age, particularly after the Zhou de-emphasised the ritual use of wine practised by the Shang kings. Under the Zhou, the ding and the privilege to perform the associated rituals became symbols of authority. The number of permitted ding varied according to one's rank in the Chinese nobility and they are often associated with power and dominion over the land.