TING

( (Chinese: tripod), ) Pinyin Ding, type of Chinese vessel, first produced during the Neolithic period ( c. 30001500 BC). The ting is essentially a deep cooking vessel, usually with two handles on the rim, supported upon three columnar legs. Two variations of the ting include the li-ting, which has a slight swelling of the bowl as it joins each of the legs (similar in effect to the li), and the fang-ting, which, however illogical, is a square tripod, with a square or rectangular box resting on four legs. The characteristic decorationoften large t'ao-t'ieh, or monster masksexploits the ample shape and surface of the bowl, with minimal ornamentation of the legs. The ting, with many variations of silhouette, is known in virtually all early ages of China, as Neolithic pottery ware and Shang (18th12th century BC) and Chou (1111255 BC) bronzes as well as the bronze and glazed pottery imitations of many later periods.