The ancient Chinese ritual bronze vessel with three legs is called a ding. The round ding typically has three legs, two facing handles, and often a lid; rectangular versions with four legs are known as fang ding.
Dings began as ceramic cooking, serving, and storage vessels during the Neolithic period. From the Shang dynasty onward, elite versions were cast in bronze and used in ceremonies honoring ancestors and deities. Their inscriptions also preserve valuable evidence about early Chinese political and social history.
During the Zhou dynasty, owning dings became a visible sign of rank and authority. Traditional ritual rules associated different numbers with different classes: emperors were linked with nine, feudal lords with seven, ministers with five, and lower-ranking scholar-officials with three or one. The answer is not Hu, Zun, or Gui: those names refer to other ancient Chinese vessel forms, often associated with wine or grain offerings.