Cleveland Museum of Art

Hollow-Legged Tripod (Li Ding)

Date

late 900 BCE

Medium

bronze

Culture

China, Shaanxi province, Xi'an, Western Zhou dynasty (c. 1046–771 BCE)

Department

Chinese Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

This food vessel exhibits a new decorative trend of metropolitan Western Zhou foundries. Zoomorphic images became increasingly abstract and subject to linear elaboration. The dominating animal mask (taotie) of the Shang is here transformed, dissolved, and dissected into intricate patterns of curving bands and median grooves. The design is abstract but not devoid of symbolic contents and functions. A smooth and even gray-green patina--the result of natural corrosion during burial--covers the outside and creates a new visual impact on the surface decoration.

The authoritative record is held by Cleveland Museum of Art. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.