CHINA ARQUEOLOGIA golden-age-chinese-archayeolog

6o
Bronze ding tripod
Height 62.4 (2472), diam. 15 V-z, weight 28.5 (62 3 A)
Transitional Period (c. 1400-1200 BCE)
From Dayangzhou, Xin'gan, Jiangxi Province
Jiangxi Provincial Museum, Nanchang
Fourteen round ding with flattened legs in the form
of animals were found at Dayangzhou. This vessel 1
is the largest, and takes pride of place among the
eight others, all of which feature zoomorphic legs;
six of those vessels also have tigerlike creatures cast
onto the handles. Ranging in height from this example's
62.4 centimeters down to 19 centimeters,
the vessels seem to adumbrate a set of ding in graduated
sizes, a feature of ritual assemblages first
associated with the Western Zhou period. Although
the tomb of Fu Hao has many pairs and sets of
vessels, none was created as a gradually diminishing
196 BRONZE ACE CHINA