Taotie in the context of "Ding (vessel)"

The Han dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD) was the second imperial dynasty of China, following the Qin dynasty (221–207 BC). It was divided into the periods of Western (Former) Han (202 BC – 9 AD) and Eastern (Later) Han (25–220 AD), briefly interrupted by the Xin dynasty (9–23 AD) of Wang Mang. The capital of Western Han was Chang'an, and the capital of Eastern Han was Luoyang. The emperor headed the government, promulgating all written laws, serving as commander-in-chief of the armed forces, and presiding as the chief executive official. He appointed all government officials who earned a salary of 600 bushels of grain or more (though these salaries were largely paid in coin cash) with the help of advisors who reviewed each nominee. The empress dowager could either be the emperor's actual or symbolic mother, and was in practice more respected than the emperor, as she could override his decisions; she could even make decisions on behalf of the emperor in dilemma matters of the country or for the order and continuation of the dynasty. If necessary, with the support of the courtiers, she would decide on his successor or his dismissal, although such a challenge was only raised by the empress dowager to the emperor during the emperor's youth or incapacity. The emperor's executive powers could also be practiced by any official upon whom he bestowed the Staff of Authority. These powers included the right to execute criminals without the imperial court's permission.

Near the beginning of the dynasty, semi-autonomous regional kings rivaled the emperor's authority. This autonomy was greatly diminished when the imperial court enacted reforms following the threats to central control like the Rebellion of the Seven States. The end of the Han dynasty came about during a time of civil, military and religious upheaval, which resulted in the period of Three Kingdoms.

A guang or gong is a particular shape used in Chinese art for vessels, originally made as Chinese ritual bronzes in the Shang dynasty (c. 1600 – c. 1046 BCE), and sometimes later in Chinese porcelain. They are a type of ewer which was used for pouring rice wine at ritual banquets, and often deposited as grave goods in high-status burial. Examples of the shape may be described as ewers, ritual wine vessels, wine pourers and similar terms, though all of these terms are also used of a number of other shapes, especially the smaller tripod jue and the larger zun.

The guang has a single thick foot, and a thick hollow body that represents one or more stylized animals (some have a head at both ends). Guangs have a vertical handle at one end and a spout at the other, both zoomorphic, and were often highly decorated with taotie. The handle of the guang is of often in the shape of the neck and head of an animal with stylized horns, and the spout of the vessel is in the form of the head of a creature whose mouth constitutes the end of the spout. The back and animal head at the pouring end usually are a removable lid, lifted off for pouring.

A jue (Chinese: 爵; Wade–Giles: chüeh) is a type of ancient Chinese ritual bronze vessel used to serve warm wine during ancestor-worship ceremonies. It takes the form of an ovoid body supported by three splayed triangular legs, with a long curved spout (liu 流) on one side and a counterbalancing flange (wei 尾) on the other. Many examples have one or two loop handles (pan 鋬) on the side and two column-shaped protuberances (zhu 柱) on the top of the vessel, which were probably used to enable the vessel to be lifted using leather straps. They are often ornately decorated with taotie decorations representing mythical beasts. They are in effect a small Chinese equivalent of the ewer. The name jue is not original, but derives from the Shuowen Jiezi, a dictionary of the 2nd century AD.

The vessel originated in Neolithic times as a pottery ware associated with the Longshan culture, between about 2500-2000 BC. During the Shang and Zhou dynasties of Bronze Age China, it became one of a number of designs of Chinese ritual bronzes. Pottery and lead copies continued to be made and used as grave goods or spirit utensils (mingqi). Most jue (like other Chinese bronzes) were created by casting molten metal in pottery moulds, but one jue appears to have been made using the much earlier method of hammering sheet metal that might have been introduced from western Asia, where bronze metallurgy is believed to have been developed 2,000 years before it appeared in China.

The zun or yi, used until the Northern Song (960–1126) is a type of Chinese ritual bronze or ceramic wine vessel with a round or square vase-like form, sometimes in the shape of an animal, first appearing in the Shang dynasty. Used in religious ceremonies to hold wine, the zun has a wide lip to facilitate pouring. Vessels have been found in the shape of a dragon, an ox, a goose, and more. One notable zun is the He zun (Chinese: 何尊) from the Western Zhou.