Art of East Asia: Neolithic & Bronze Age China
Many other motifs occur on the ding as in this example. The lower,
leaf shaped element is a cicada larva (a symbol of d rebirth in Chinese
mythology). The ding was one of the commonest types of vessels in the vessel
typology and most tombs that have any bronzes at all have at least one ding.
It is believed that the ding was used in cooking meat dishes over the fire
and that the three legs acted the support. Under the Zhou Dynasty, the casting
of a ding became a prerogative of rank or a reward for service to be granted
to members of the nobility and officers of the military by the emperor but
it is uncertain if that was the case in Shang China.
Cleveland Museum of Art 60.288.
