Ritual food vessel with lid (dui)

These four vessels [B60 B1080, B60 B30+, B60 B1079 and B60 B720] and those of the following two plates illustrate a new pictorial and, at times, almost anecdotal trend which originated in northwestern China towards the last decades of the 6th century BCE and lasted well into the Han dynasty. Imaginative, refreshing and technically daring as it is, this trend is the swan song of an art that had been self-sufficient for a thousand years. With few exceptions, shapes are plain, if not pedestrian. The now completely secularized metal is used as a mere background for designs that are for the most part borrowed from other media, such as painting, and are no longer adapted to the anatomy of the containers.
Three or these vessels, the dui (B60B1080) and the two hu (B60B30+, B60B1079) bear designs of copper inlay. At first, as in the dui, the decor was done in incised lines filled with copper thread. Later on, as in the case of the two hu, decorative motifs were carved and then filled with copper foil cut-outs in a manner resembling niello work.
The dui (B60B1080) is one of the earliest specimens of a new, near-spherical shape. With its three spurred, ring-like feet, the cover can be used as a bowl in its own right and can only be told from the lower part of the vessel in that it is not equipped with handles. The center of the cupola is occupied by a geometrical design comprising a composite whorl-circle bordered by a twisted rope pattern and, on the outside, a row of eight heart-shaped lappets. The rest of the decor consists of seven identical hybrid felines, three on the cover and four on the bowl. Like all felines in this series, they assume a markedly arched position, almost like cats setting up their backs. The handles proper are plain, but the sides of the annular feet are incised with striations and round and triangular volutes of a well-known type.