AN ARCHAIC RITUAL BRONZE COVERED TRIPOD FOOD VESSEL ( DING )Eastern Zhou dynasty, 6th-5th century B.C. Handsomely modelled and decorated with horizontal bands of repeated 'S' hooks over leiwen ground, the body divided by a raised rope-twist line, a pair of 'U'-shaped handle raised from the shoulder, the shallow domed cover well-fitted to the body, decorated with concentric bands of the same pattern with three concave loop rings on top, which may serve as feet when reversing the cover as a dish, the handles and loop rings finely decorated in the same design, the legs and underside plain, covered inside and out with rich encrustations of malachite and earth. 16 3/8in (41.8cm) width across handles; 14in (35.8cm) diam. of vessel; 13 5/8in (34.8cm) high overall 東周 青銅蓋鼎 Provenance: Mathias Komor, New York, purchased in 1979 during the holiday season according to letter dated on January 17, 1980 來源： 紐約知名古董商 Mathias Komor，1980年1月17日，藏家購於1979年底 It is rare to see bronze covered ding of this classic form in such large size. The squashed spherical vessel on short legs and the finely cast decoration that flushed to the surface are sometimes categorized as "Liyu Style", named after the small village near Houma, Shanxi province where a hoard of similar bronze vessels were reportedly discovered in 1923. Many bronze ding of the "Liyu" type have been identified in museum collections.pare, for example, the large bronze covered ding of this majestic form and size in the National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian, Washington D.C., illustrated by Pope, The Freer Chinese Bronzes , Volume I, Washington, 1967, pp. 490-495, no. 96, plate 90; another bronze ding of this type but of smaller size in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco is illustrated by R. Lefebvre d'Argence, Bronze Vessels of Ancient China in the Avery Brundage Collection , San Francisco, 1977, pp. 120-121, no. LII. pare also the large bronze covered ding of closely related form and decoration in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, illustrated by H.F.E. Visser, Asiatic Art in Private Collections of Holland and Belgium , Amsterdam, 1948, no. 25, pls. 20-21. A small bronze covered ding of very similar decoration and proportion in the National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian, Washington D.C., is illustrated by J. So, Eastern Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sacker Collections , New York, 1995, pp. 158-161, no. 20, where the author attributed the early 5th century B.C. dating by citing the bronze covered ding unearthed from Shanxi Tunliu Wujiagou, illustrated in Kaogu , 1983, No. 3, pl. 7:3.