Page 54 - Deydier Early Chinese Bronzes

Ding 鼎

Up to the present moment, only a single bronze ding 鼎 vessel has been
scientifically excavated from the Erlitou site. It was found there in 1987
with the second jia 斝 mentioned above in Tomb 87YLVM1 from Period
IV of Erlitou. The ding 鼎, which is 20 cm high and 15.3 cm in diameter
from handle to handle, consists of a flat-bottomed, rounded, basin-like,
thin-walled body supported by three hollow, triangular cone-like legs
extending from the sides of the vessel’s lower body. Two semi-circular
arched handles face each other across the vessel’s upper rim and the
vessel’s body is decorated in light relief with a freize of criss-crossing
lines forming losanges.

Ding 鼎 87YLVM1

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