OC 015 · Ritual vessel (ding) · Asia

A bronze cauldron on three legs

A round green bronze cauldron on three straight legs, with two upright handles and a pattern of animal faces
Photo: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, CC0, via The Met Open Access.
Number on this site
OC 015
What it is
Ritual vessel (ding)
Made
12th to 11th century BC
Period
Shang dynasty
Material
Bronze
Size
25.4 cm high with its handles
Now held by
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Museum number
49.135.10

A cauldron for food, cast in bronze and decorated with animal faces. The museum calls it a ritual cauldron: Shang kings made offerings to their ancestors, and the oracle bones record many of them.1,2

Where it sits in human time

Made about 3,100 years ago. On this strip, each step to the right is ten times closer to today.

300,000 years ago10,0003,0001,000100nowA bronze cauldron on three legs

Seen in

Filed under

Sources for this page

Every number on this page comes from one of these. How we check.

Last reviewed 12 November 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.

  1. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Ritual tripod cauldron (ding). Shang dynasty, 12th–11th century BCE. Collection record 61239, Open Access (CC0). www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/61239Used for: A round cauldron on three legs, 25.4 cm high. Checked 12 November 2026.
  2. Keightley, D. N. (1978). Sources of Shang History: The Oracle-Bone Inscriptions of Bronze Age China. Berkeley: University of California Press. search.worldcat.org/search?q=Sources%20of%20Shang%20History%20Keightley%201978Used for: How a divination was made and recorded, what the kings asked about, and the inscription about Lady Hao’s childbirth (Heji 14002). Checked 12 November 2026.