How did a ding vessel differ from a li vessel?

In the context of ancient Chinese metalwork, the li and the ding are both types of cooking vessels, but they differ primarily in their structural design and leg composition:

• Legs and Body: The li is characterized by a round body supported by three hollow, pointed, lobe-shaped legs that form an extension of the vessel's interior volume. In contrast, the ding is a hemispheric vessel typically supported by three solid, columnar legs.123
• Handles: The ding is usually distinguished by the presence of two handles on its rim, a feature not typically associated with the li design.3
• Variations: While the li maintains a specific trilobed form, the ding includes variations such as the fang-ding, a square or rectangular vessel resting on four legs, and the li-ding, which combines features of both by incorporating a slight swelling of the bowl where it joins the legs.32
• Decoration: The vocabulary of animal motifs used to decorate ritual bronzes was generally more limited on the li compared to the ding, which often utilized its ample surface area for elaborate designs like taotie monster masks.13