Ancient Chinese bronze food utensils
tripod
A utensil for cooking food or soup, or as a meat and seasoning utensil for feasting. In addition to being used as a cooking vessel in the daily life of the nobles, the bronze tripod was also an important ritual vessel for the nobles to carry out ritual activities such as sacrifices. Bronze ritual vessels not only marked the personal status of nobles, but some special heavy vessels were also symbols of political power. During the Western Zhou Dynasty, the patriarchal system and feudal system (feudal system) were developed. In "Zhou Li", there are records of "nine tripods for emperors, seven tripods for princes, five tripods for doctors, and three tripods for scholars", which stipulates the system of using tripods. The "Yu Zhu Jiuding" and "Winning the Central Plains" circulated in ancient books and documents all illustrate the special status of the tripod.
Li
Li and Ding are similar in purpose, and are also a cooking utensil for cooking food. The difference between it and Ding is that Ding can be divided into obvious abdomen and feet, while Li’s abdomen and feet are not separated.
Yǎn
Yan is a cooker used to steam food. From the point of view of shape, Zong can be regarded as two utensils in one. The upper part is a large bowl-shaped steamer (zèng), which can hold food. The lower part is a 鬲 (lì) used to hold water, and there is a circular copper sheet with a cross-shaped hole or a straight hole between the 鬲 and the retort. When in use, a fire is burned at the bottom of the utensil, and the steam passes through the copper sheet to steam the food in the retort (zèng). How about it, is it similar to the steam tray we use in our daily life?
Gui
Serving and warming containers. When a gui is used as a ritual vessel, it is usually used in conjunction with a tripod, and the number of tripods and gui used varies with the status of the owner. Zhou Tianzi used "nine tripods and eight guis" for sacrifices, princes "seven tripods and six guis", high officials "five tripods and four guis", scholars "three tripods and two guis".
Xǔ
xu is a utensil for holding food. The use of xu was relatively short, and it was popular in the late Western Zhou Dynasty, and it was rare in the early Spring and Autumn Period. The shape of the scorpion is a rounded rectangle with a cover. The top of the cover has a four-rectangular or ring-shaped button, or a ring-shaped handle. Most of them have ring feet or connect four legs at the bottom of the vessel.
Fǔ
Bronze Fu and bronze xǔ have similar uses, and they are food containers. It was popular from the late Western Zhou Dynasty to the Warring States period. Its shape is a rectangular bucket, and the lid is the same shape, which can be interlocked.
bean
Dou is a utensil for pickles and meat sauce, and it can also be used for food. It is equivalent to the dish plate we use today. The shape of the bean is similar to the high-legged plate of later generations.
When used, they are often used in combination of even numbers, so there is a saying that "dingzu (zǔ) is odd and biān bean puppet". However, there are few bronze beans unearthed and handed down from generation to generation. This may be because people used pottery beans, lacquer beans and bamboo wood beans at that time, and it is difficult to preserve them to the present.
Zu
Zu is a table used for cutting and serving meat. Its height and function matched the habit of people sitting on the ground at that time. Bronze zu appeared in the Shang Dynasty. In the Western Zhou Dynasty, the forms of zu became more abundant and occupied an important position in Zhou rituals. After the large-scale sacrifice, the chief priest will distribute the meat to relatives and subordinates. In the pre-Qin classics, it is common to see the records of Zhou Tianzi awarding sacrificial meat to the princes. This kind of sacrificial meat is usually called "zuò". When eating meat, you need to put the cooked meat on the zu and cut it with a knife, and the meat soup will flow down the hollow on the zu.
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