A cooking tripod whose handles are two rams’ heads and whose surface is crowded with small beasts, as if the Bronze Age wanted its utensils to bite back.
The Boju li is named for an official, Boju, named in its long inscription, and dated to the early Western Zhou. It is the showpiece of the Capital Museum in Beijing, a thing made to display status at the ritual table rather than to cook on it.
The dense animal masks and the ram handles mark the moment bronze casting moved from awe toward ornament; the vessel is less a tool than a statement that the family who owned it belonged to the new order.
Object details
| Name | Boju Ritual Tripod (Li) (伯矩鬲) |
|---|---|
| Artefact no. | — |
| Technique | Cast bronze |
| Period | Western Zhou dynasty (c. 11th-10th c. BCE) |
| Collection | Capital Museum, Beijing |
| Source | 首都博物馆 |
Image © Capital Museum, Beijing. See the original in the museum collection.