Chinese Ding or Cooking Vessel

Rough rectangular trough with faint inscriptions pressed into its weathered side.

This ding, or cooking vessel, in bronze is from Shanxi Province, China, and dates to the 18th century. Bronze vessels have been cast in China since the second millennium BCE, and later makers continued to echo early shapes in their work. Low open box with straight sides and a flat rim, in sandy gray. The outer wall shows shallow, worn carving and a column of characters on the right. Four little feet at the base are partly visible, and the surface is pitted. It is 10.5 inches wide, 7.5 deep and 5 high.

Weathered, humble and rather good at keeping its own counsel.