A tripod with ox-head and dragon-shaped hoof-foot patterns

Bronze ware from the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period

26 cm high, 26.5 cm in diameter, 33.5 cm in belly diameter. Excavated from Zhao Qing's tomb in Jinsheng Village, Taiyuan City in 1988. A group of 5 pieces, the picture shows the 3rd piece. They are arranged in order of size, with basically the same shape and decoration, and the pattern is slightly reduced as the size of the tripod decreases. The ware is a basin-shaped lid with three lying rhinoceroses as buttons. The rhinoceroses have raised heads, erect ears, round eyes, and wide noses. There is a bridge-shaped button in the middle of the lid, holding a ring. The ware has a narrow mouth, slightly retracted lips, slightly bulging round belly, and a pair of animal-faced doorknobs holding rings on both sides, short and thick animal hoof feet, and a low arc-shaped crotch. There are three groups of patterns on the lid from the inside to the outside, namely bird patterns, cow-head double-body dragon patterns, and Kuifeng patterns. The upper abdomen is a cow-head double-body dragon pattern belt. All major decorations are filled with geometric patterns such as Huiwen. When it was unearthed, the tripod contained cow and sheep bones.

The ritual system of the Western Zhou Dynasty stipulated that during sacrifices, banquets, funerals and other activities, an odd number of tripods and an even number of gui were combined and used in sets with other utensils. The emperor had nine tripods and eight gui, the princes had seven tripods and six gui, the officials had five tripods and four gui, and the scholars had three tripods and two gui. Among them, the tripods were divided into three categories: one was the wok tripod, which was used to cook animals, fish and bacon; the second was the sheng tripod, also known as the main tripod, which mainly held meat cooked in the wok tripod; the third was the xiu tripod, also known as the accompanying tripod, which was used to hold condiments and was used in conjunction with the sheng tripod. This system of using tripods to represent status and rank was centered on the sheng tripod.

Three sets of sheng tripods were unearthed from the tomb of Zhao Qing. According to the identification of the animal bones contained in them, they should belong to the "tai lao" or "da lao" with complete "three animals" of cattle, sheep and pigs. According to regulations, only the emperor or princes could use them.