Minneapolis Institute of Art

Ding food vessel

China

Date

12th-11th century BCE

Medium

Bronze

Department

Asian Art

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

This square cauldron, known as a fangding, presented cooked food such as grains or meat during ancestral rites. The vessel’s surface is decorated with animal masks—mythical, symmetrical creatures with staring eyes and curving horns—believed to connect the earthly and spirit worlds. Like other types of cauldrons, the strong, geometric shape of fangding gradually became a symbol of state power or a mandate to rule in late Shang society, and their presence in tombs emphasized the deceased’s continued authority and status in the afterlife. China, Asia

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