Lidded Bronze Dou - Part

Dou is a goblet-shaped food container that usually used to contain meat sauce and preserved vegetables. In the Neolithic Age people used clay Dou and in the Shang Dynasty bronze Dou came into the scene. When used as a kind of ritual vessel, there are strict rules about the number of Dou that should be used by different people on different occasions.

This bronze Dou is decorated with patterns of phoenixes and dragons with heads of birds. The decoration has recognizable Warring State Period features: patterns were first carved on the vessel, then gems and lacquer were inlaid into the patterns; at last the whole vessel was polished so it would have a glamorous glow.