Ritual food vessel with cover (ding)

The Liyu' style, named after a village in northern Shansi, is the most distinctive one of the Late Zhou period. Robust and elegant, shapes are almost classical in their rotundity, simplicity and directness. Perfectly adapted to these shapes, the ebullient decor, tempered by strict symmetry consists essentially of uninterrupted circular bands of more or less abstracted animal shapes in low relief and filled with granulated or thread-like details, the latter being usually variants of the round-and-triangular volute.

Liyu style ding vary greatly in proportions and iconography. This series comprises some of the smallest and largest vessels ever produced by Chinese bronze casters. The surface decoration of the diminutive ding (B60B5+) consists of a circle on top of the cover and of four concentric bands of regardant and legless dragons. Starting from the top, the first and third bands utilize the same pattern of boldly, intertwined dragons with elongated lolling tongues and bifurcated tails. The dragons of the second and fourth bands have short tongues and form a continuous frieze in the sense that the tail or each dragon merges into the crest of the following one, without any obvious transition. The third and fourth bands are separated by a twisted rope in high relief. The circle on top of the cover is inscribed with a whorl pattern made of triangular and round volutes. The handles are also incised with geometric designs. The cabriole legs bear animal masks in high relief and the three bovines in the round that adorn the cover are reminiscent of those of the ding of Pl. XLVII [B60B65].