A superb 'li ding' bronze

Description:

China, late Shang dynasty
H. 19,5/ D. 16,8 cm
This exceptionally well-cast tripod-shaped bronze vessel, which was used in burial ceremonies, has three subtly defined lobes that join to form a circular rim from which two diametrically opposed handles protrude. The vesseläß stands on three long, unadorned, pillar-shaped legs. A flat taotie mask 饕餮紋 adorns each of the lobes of the vesseläßin a dramatic way. The masks are each ücentred over a leg, so that the legs appear to emerge from the Taotie's mouth. The Taotie masks, whose surfaces are slightly modulated, show the wild animal frontally and depict its upper jaw, its flared nostrils, its prominent nasal bridge, its protruding eyes and its large C-shaped horns. A pair of downward-facing kui dragons or kuilong 夔龍 flank each taotie mask, with each dragon depicted in profile and featuring a long snout, protruding eyes, a short body and an upturned tail. The relief decoration appears against an integrally moulded background of Leiwen 雷紋, small, square spirals. The continuous vertical lines that appear on the outer edge of each mask unit not only clearly distinguish one lobe from the next, but also show where the individual mould parts were joined together during casting. The cast inscription inside may read as 'fu shan zong. Weight: 1.575 kg.
From the collection of the chemist, engineer and director of Merck & Co. Heinrich Georg Johann Harms (3.9.1906-28.6.1975) and his wife Eva Harms (10.11.1905-13.10.1998), largely collected in Shanghai between 1935 and 1942
A very similar Li-ding of almost the same size, also dated late Shang to Western Zhou Dynasty, is in the National Palace Museum colleciotn in Taipeh, register no. 中銅001802N000000000: https://digitalarchive.npm.gov.tw/Collection/Detail/5778?dep=U. A zun vase with the same inscription, excavated in 1980 from Tomb 8 of the Zhuyuangou National Cemetery in Baoji City, is now in the collection of the Baoji Bronzeware Museum in Shaanxi Province and is dated Western Zhou Dynasty.
Closely related vessels are in the collection of the Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, MA (1944.57.19), the Saint Louis Art Museum (288:55), the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery of the U.S. National Museum of Asian Art, Washington, DC (S1987.304), and the Sumitomo Collection 住友コレクション at Sen-oku Hakuko Kan, Kyoto 京都泉屋博古館. Another closely related lidding from a Japanese private collection was sold at Sotheby's in New York on 11 September 2019 (lot 504). The related vesseläßwhich was excavated in 1990 from grave M160 in Guojiazhuangxi, Anyang, Henan province 河南省安陽郭家莊西M160號墓地出土, is now in the care of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing 北京中國社會科學院. Another comparable example is in the collection of the Hunan Museum in Changsha 湖南省長沙市湖南省博物館.
For a comparable li ding in a sale see Christie's Paris, 9.6.2021, lot 15
Apart from their function as sacral vessels and apart from the information they convey about early Chinese culture, beliefs, and funerary practices, we admire Chinese bronzes for their inventive shapes, bold decoration, and precise casting, as witnessed this superb liding vessel. In fact, it is the precision of the casting, from the majestic vessels themselves to their intricately embellished surfaces, that marks Chinese bronze ritual vessels as truly and wondrously exceptional; in that context, this liding stands as a telling comment on the exceptionally high level of technological sophistication present already in the earliest phases of Chinese historical development - Slightly chipped, small old repairs at the leg attachments