Page 146 - The Golden Age of Chinese Archaeology: Celebrated Discoveries from the People’s Republic of China

37 outer mold sections would have been formed to
interior
render the everted rim and to leave space for the
two loop handles. This ding has a simple pattern of
crossed relief lines in a band around its waist, an
effect that takes advantage of the piece-mold tech-
nique. The interior of outer molds could easily be
scored, carved, or even stamped with decorative
designs to create relief on the surface of the cast
object.
This ding was recovered through the efforts of
the local public security bureau after it, a jia tripod
and a gu goblet were unearthed by workers at a
factory near the Erlitou site. Since the archaeo-
logical context was never properly documented,
or related artifacts (such as pottery) collected,
the assignment of this ding to the Erlitou culture
(rather than to the subsequent Lower Erligang
[Early Shang] Phase) is at best hypothetical.
Several vessels with similar decoration have been
recovered from other sites in Henan: a jue was
found at Zhengzhou in 1958, and a jia was found
2
in Xinzheng in 19/5- These related examples
are usually assigned to the Early Shang period
(C. 1600-1300 BCE). 3 RT

1 Recovered in 1987; reported: Zhongguo Erlitou 1991,
1138-1139, and pi. 8.
and the tripod's pointed legs would have allowed 2 Henan 1981, nos. 61 and 91.
the vessel and its contents to be placed directly into 3 Thorp 1985.
a bed of hot charcoal or some other fuel. This ding
is of a modest size that permits easy manipulation
by one pair of hands; presumably the two loop
handles at the rim were used to lift it off the fire.
The vessel still bears traces of seams between
the ceramic piece-molds used for its casting, as
well as signs of an early repair. The mold assembly
required for such a vessel presented no great chal-
lenges, and surely the object was less demanding
to cast than the more common jue. A spherical clay
core (with three pointed stumps to create a hollow
in each conical leg) formed the vessel's interior.
Outer mold sections formed the body of the vessel,
their joins aligned at regular intervals around the
vessel — probably in three sections extending from
one leg to the next. If the ding was cast upside down
(as generally seems to have been the practice) the

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