Ding (vessel) - Historical Development

Historical Development

One of the many types of bronze vessels, the ding vessel had its origins in standard ceramic vessels with the shape of a tripod. A bronze ding vessel from Panlongcheng, Huangpi, Hubei, for example, inherits its shape from Neolithic pottery. Perhaps the most famous ancient dings were the legendary Nine Tripod Cauldrons. This set of bronze vessels is said to have been cast by King Yu of the Xia Dynasty when he divided his territory into the Jiuzhou or Nine Provinces. Later on, possession of all nine was considered a sign of rightful authority over all. The whereabouts of the nine ding are presently unknown, but are said to have been lost during the imperial Qin Dynasty (221-206 BCE), after having been passed among various royal dynasties and feudal states.

Ding vessels were used throughout the Shang and Zhou dynasties and later time periods. Round, tripod ding vessels are emblematic of the Shang and Western and Eastern Zhou periods. Western Zhou ding vessels departed from the Shang aesthetic in terms of their oddly-proportioned legs that were deliberately emphasized through the addition of flanged taotie motifs. In terms of their significance throughout history, bronze vessels came to assume a more political role in later dynasties than in the Shang period. Inscriptions cast on Western Zhou ding vessels, for example, commemorate political events and record gifts between monarchs and subjects. The Da Ke ding records a royal award to Ke of royal estate, which is seen as evidence of the breaking up of the estates of old families and their distribution to new families in the transition between different time periods.

In Late Western Zhou, sets of ding and gui were used to indicate rank; a feudal lord would be entitled to nine ding and six gui, while lesser officials were entitled to a smaller number of vessels. Likewise, late Zhou bronzes were often very large, suggesting corresponding wealth. Early Eastern Zhou bronzes descended directly from those of Western Zhou. In later times, in the middle Warring States period, the three-legged ding would be one of the most popular ceramic forms imitating bronzes.

In Western China in an area controlled by Qin, small, shallow tripod ding vessels were produced. For these vessels, burial groups of vessels in ceramic and bronze illustrate the persistence of Western Zhou vessel types over different time periods. Tombs at Baoji and Hu Xian, for example, contain sets of ding among others that are shallow and with cabriole legs. The role of ding vessels in the Zhou period continued, as Qin cemeteries contained ding vessels that expressed rank.

Food vessels such as fu, gui, and dui that were popular in Zhou times disappeared by the Han dynasty, during which the ding, zhong, hu, and fang were the main vessel types used. In Western and Eastern Han, the ding was one of the most common bronze-derived shapes in pottery.

Today, the architecture of the Shanghai Museum is intended to resemble a bronze ding.