‘DING’ TRIPODE VESSEL WITH INLAY DECORATION

Description This ding vessel - a ritual vessel used for cooking and ceremonial meat offerings - has the typical shape of the Qin and early Han eras: a flattened globular body with a rounded bottom, a horizontal rib on the belly, hoofed feet, two vertical rectangular handles slightly curved outwards and, on the lid, three semicircular handles surmounted by a round button. It features a fine damask decoration in gold and silver over much of its surface with stylised and mixtilinear motifs of mountains, clouds, flowers and birds. Finally, the wide attachment of the feet to the container presents theories of triangles amidst spiral motifs. Originating in Shaanxi, this type of vessel spread on a large scale, in the late 3rd and 2nd centuries BCE, from Gansu in the northwest to Guangdong-Guangxi in the southeast. The gold and silver agemina decoration, on the other hand, is much rarer.