A pair of inscribed archaic bronze ritual food vessels, Ding, Early Western Zhou dynasty | 西周初 青銅鳥形扁足公伯鼎一對

Hartman Rare Art, New York.

來源：

Hartman Rare Art，紐約

Notable for its bowl-like body and three blade-like zoomorphic legs, the present lot represents an unusual group of ding. Inspired by pottery prototypes made in the Neolithic period, bronze versions of this unique form first appeared during the Erligang phase and continued to be produced through to the Shang and Western Zhou dynasty. Ding of this particular form were usually cast with legs in the form of stylised dragons. Tiger, fish and bird-shaped legs, as portrayed in the present lot, are exceedingly rare and generally period-specific. 

The shallow flat bottom bowl and the tall bird-shaped legs of the present example suggest a date in the early Western Zhou dynasty. Excavation findings reveal that ding of this type cast with striking stylised bird-legs appear to have only been made during the second phase of Yinxu culture and during the early-mid Western Zhou dynasty. The abstract rendering of the birds with eyes and wings cast in relief places the present lot in the early Western Zhou dynasty. A similar early Western Zhou inscribed example (excavation number M209:28) was unearthed at the Liulihe site, the capital of the Yan state in the Western Zhou period, and illustrated in Liulihe Xizhou Yanguo Mudi 1973–1977 [Yan State Cemetery of the Western Zhou Period at Liulihe 1973–1977], Beijing, 1995, pl. 77. Similar examples are also preserved in the Beijing Palace Museum (illustrated in Bronzes in the Palace Museum, Beijing, 1999, pl. 86) and in the Taipei Palace Museum (accession number: 中銅001514N000000000). 

Compare also a similar bird-feet ding bearing the same six-character inscription, illustrated in Wu Zhenfeng, Shangzhou Qingtongqi Mingwen ji Tuxiang Jicheng [Compendium of Inscriptions and Images of Bronzes from the Shang and Zhou Dynasties], vol. 3, Shanghai, 2012, pl. 01591.

此類青銅鼎鼓腹、扁足，形制獨特，為青銅禮器中罕見的器類。其造形可溯自新石器時期扁足陶器，於二里崗時期初現青銅作例，並一直沿作至商周時期，於商代及西周早期盛極一時，西周中晚期開始衰落。此類鼎足常以夔龍足為主要樣式，虎形、魚形及如本品的鳥形足實為少見，甚具時代特徵。

本對青銅「公伯」鼎淺腹、微鼓，圜底近平，扁足綴鳥紋，鳥頭突目、勾喙，紋飾勁拔有力，應造於西周早期。據存世鑄器考之，鳥形扁足鼎見於殷墟二期及西周早中期。本品鳥形紋飾與西周早期傳世器類同，可參考琉璃河燕國墓地出土一相類例（編號：M209:28），載於《琉璃河西周燕國墓地（1973-1979）》，北京，1995年，圖版77。形制相類者亦見於兩岸故宮，一載於《故宮藏青銅器》，北京故宮博物院，北京，1999年，圖版86；另一貯台北故宮博物院，館藏編號：中銅001514N000000000。

再參考一相類青銅鳥形扁足「公伯」鼎，內壁鑄與本品相同之六字銘文，刊錄於吳鎮烽，《商周青銅器銘文暨圖像集成》，卷3，上海，2012年，圖版01591。