What are the bronze cookers in ancient Chinese bronzes used for?

Bronze cookers in ancient Chinese bronzes are the cookers used by the ancients to cook food. It can be roughly divided into ding, Wei, shield, jade, kettle and so on.

(1) Ding is equivalent to the present pot, and its shape is mostly round, with three legs and ears, mainly including column foot ding, flat foot ding, pointed foot ding, horseshoe ding and four-legged Fang Ding. Before Shang dynasty, there were many round abdomen and pointed feet, after Shang dynasty, there were many round abdomen and column feet, and the hoofs and feet became shorter and covered in the late western Zhou dynasty. During the Qin and Han dynasties, there were many closed mouths, big bellies, ears and three short feet, all of which were covered with three rings. (2) The porridge cooking vessel generally has three hollow feet, which are convenient for heating, and the mouth is inclined outwards into a small mouth. Popular from Shang Dynasty to Spring and Autumn Period. (3) Dun is characterized in that both the lid and the container are semicircular and combined into a sphere with two ears. There are three-legged and no-legged, which prevailed in the Warring States period. (4) It is equivalent to the present steamer. Generally divided into two parts, the upper part is retort, used to hold food; The bottom is used to hold water. There is a perforated copper sheet between retort and retort, called grate, which can penetrate steam. There are three kinds: monomer, combination and square.