Cauldron (Ding)
Warring States period (475-221 BCE)
Bronze
In Remembrance of Judy Owens
200…

Images(5)

Cauldron (Ding)

ClassificationsFurnishings-Cookware-cauldrons

Date475-221 BCE

Made AtChina, Asia

MediumBronze

Dimensions6 5/8 × 9 in. (16.8 × 22.9 cm)

Credit LineIn Remembrance of Judy Owens

Object number2005.11.1

DescriptionVessels such as this cauldron (ding) developed organically during the late Neolithic period as a solution to the issue of heating food over a fire. Their tripodal design—the word ding literally translates to tripod—allowed them to be placed right over a fire. The earliest ding were made of clay, had no handles, and had relatively little in the way of surface carving or painting.

With the advent of bronze casting during the Xia and Shang dynasties, ding were cast in metal for the first time, but bronze and ceramic ding were made concurrently throughout their production. The body of this ding is covered with small snake-like dragons. This pattern would have been created by repeatedly stamping the vessel’s clay mold with a single dragon stamp.

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