Ashmolean − Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

Details

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Associated place

Asia › China (place of creation)

Date

11th - 10th century BC (1100 - 901 BC)
Western Zhou Dynasty (c. 1050 - c. 771 BC)

Material and technique

bronze

Dimensions

with handles 17.3 cm (height)
without handles 13.3 cm (height)
14.9 cm (diameter)
15.8 cm (width)

Material index

processed material › metal › alloy › copper alloy › bronze

Technique index

formed › cast

Object type index

religious/ritual equipment › religious/ritual vessel › ding

No. of items

1

Credit line

Lent by the Sir Alan Barlow Collection Trust.

Accession no.

LI1301.6
Further reading

University of Sussex, and Arts and Humanities Research Council, The Barlow Collection, supervised by Regina Krahl, Maurice Howard, and Aiden Leeves (Sussex: University of Sussex, 2006), no. B7

Glossary (2)

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ding, taotie

ding

A Chinese bronze tripod ritual cooking vessel. Also a type of white porcelain from Northern China.
taotie

Stylized monster mask decoration with prominent eyes and scrolling horns. The motif has been known since the 1100s. Its significance remains mysterious.

Location

- Ground floor | Room 10 | China to 800

Objects are sometimes moved to a different location. Our object location data is usually updated on a monthly basis. Contact the Jameel Study Centre if you are planning to visit the museum to see a particular object on display, or would like to arrange an appointment to see an object in our reserve collections.

Publications online

The Barlow Collection
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- read object entry
The piece has a hemispherical bowl with an everted angular rim with two arched handles, and is raised on three flat, curved, blade-shaped legs. The bowl is decorated with a band of taotie design with three masks centred on and separated by raised flanges, each rendered in low relief with eyes, ears and fangs and the body stylized into scrollwork with a claw identifiable, all on a scrollwork (leiwen) ground. The bronze is thickly encrusted with green patina. A clan sign depicting a halberd enclosed in a cross-shaped surround in the form of the character ya is cast below the rim inside.