Collection record · Objects & craft
Tripod (Ding)
The collection record classifies this work as metalwork. It is dated 1000s BCE. Recorded culture or place: China, Western Zhou dynasty (c. 1046–771 BCE).
Explore the object recordOBJECT RECORD
A closer look at the details.
- Museum title
- Tripod (Ding)
- Date
- 1000s BCE
- Culture / origin
- China, Western Zhou dynasty (c. 1046–771 BCE)
- Materials and technique
- bronze
- Dimensions
- Overall: 57.4 cm (22 5/8 in.)
- Artist / maker
- Not specified by the museum
- Museum
- The Cleveland Museum of Art
- Accession number
- 2003.2
FROM THE MUSEUM
In the museum’s words
The following description is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art’s original English record.
Large and majestic, this tripod gives the effect of overpowering force. Three animal masks (known as taotie) with coiled creatures are aligned in the decorative frieze. With the gaze of the staring eyes, the animal masks assert a religious presence and are meant to instill fear. Bold images of the ram embellish the three legs of the vessel.
Bronze cauldrons (ding) like this were made for offerings of food to ancestral spirits in sacrificial and funerary rites performed by the rulers or members of the aristocracy. The ding, in particular, assumed additional significance as the symbol of political power and legitimacy. As signs of status in a stratified society, such highly valued bronzes were cast by its makers with the wish to be "forever treasured for ten thousand years, by sons' sons and grandsons' grandsons."
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Text and image sources
The Cleveland Museum of Art · Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund · CC0
The summary is based on public collection data. Refer to the museum’s latest record for the title, date and attribution.
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