Room 10 | China 3000 BC-AD 800 gallery
Discover over 3000 years of Chinese history and culture through surviving artefacts, objects and texts.
Galleries : 277 objects
Ritual food vessel, or ding, with taotie mask pattern
- on display
- loan
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Details
- Associated place
- Date
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11th - 10th century BC (1100 - 901 BC)
Western Zhou Dynasty (c. 1050 - c. 771 BC)
- Material and technique
- bronze
- Dimensions
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with handles 17.3 cm (height)
without handles 13.3 cm (height)
14.9 cm (diameter)
15.8 cm (width)
- Material index
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processed material › metal › alloy › copper alloy › bronze
- Technique index
- Object type index
- No. of items
- 1
- Credit line
- Lent by the Sir Alan Barlow Collection Trust.
- Accession no.
- LI1301.6
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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)
ding, taotie
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ding
A Chinese bronze tripod ritual cooking vessel. Also a type of white porcelain from Northern China.
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taotie
Stylized monster mask decoration with prominent eyes and scrolling horns. The motif has been known since the 1100s. Its significance remains mysterious.
Location
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Ground floor | Room 10 | China to 800
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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
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The Barlow Collection
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.
Galleries
Notice
Objects may have since been removed or replaced from a gallery. Click into an individual object record to confirm whether or not an object is currently on display. Our object location data is usually updated on a monthly basis, so contact the Jameel Study Centre if you are planning to visit the museum to see a particular Eastern Art object.
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