Li 鬲 - a round-bellied food container with three hollow legs from early Shang times to late Warring States (22 cm tall). Typical for this vessel type is the seamless, smooth transition from the legs into the body that makes the li optically more slim than the ding type. There are mixed forms called li-ding or ding-li, written with special characters that have died out since long. From the Spring and Autumn period on, the li type vessels become flatter than the earlier ones. The character is a picture of the vessel and is generally used as character for "offering vessel".