An archaic bronze ritual food vessel (ding), Shang dynasty, Erligang culture | 商 二里崗文化 青銅獸面紋鼎

Japanese Private Collection, acquired in the 1980s and 1990s.

Ikeda Kobijutsu, Tokyo.

日本私人收藏，得於1980年代至1990年代

いけだ古美術，東京

This type of ding with pointed legs is characteristic of ritual bronzes from the pre-Anyang period of the Shang dynasty, but the band of decoration on the current vessel is broader and particularly crisp. Compare a vessel of similar form decorated with a band of zigzag lines, excavated at Chuqiu, Henan province and now in the Xinxiang City Museum, illustrated in Zhongguo qingtongqi quanji [Complete series on Chinese bronzes], vol. 1, Beijing, 1996, pl. 44; and another, excavated from Hui county, Henan province, ibid., pl. 27. 

The current ding closely relates to other vessels from the Erligang culture excavated at Panlongcheng. See Panlongcheng Qingtong Wenhua [The bronze culture of Panlongcheng], Wuhan, 2002, pp 116-7, where the stages of evolution of the sharp triangular feet and taotie masks throughout the mid-Shang dynasty are clearly documented.