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Vessel

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Vessel

5th - 3rd century B.C.

Chinese

The tripods known as ding were used for serving meat in ancient ancestral worship, and were buried in tombs with the deceased, who was expected to continue the practice of worship in his/her afterlife in the tomb. As bronze was an expensive material, the size and quantity of bronzes buried in a tomb also indicated the status of the deceased. The band of decorations with stylized dragons, which were stamped with ceramic molds, was characteristic of the Eastern Zhou period.

Bronze
10 1/4 x 16 1/4 in. (26 x 41.2 cm)
Overall h.: 13 1/4 in.
Diam.: 13 3/4 in.
Eugene Fuller Memorial Collection
44.13.2
location
Not currently on view

Seattle Art Museum respectfully acknowledges that we are on Indigenous land, the traditional territories of the Coast Salish people. We honor our ongoing connection to these communities past, present, and future.

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