Jet is a tough, compact black form of lignite, or coal, and therefore a fossilized organic material. The color is best described by the fact that it has lent its name to the quality of uncompromised blackness, as in 'jet-black'. It is light in weight and takes a very high surface polish. It is also soft enough to carve directly with a metal blade, bringing it within range of possible materials for the scholar-carver to express his own artistic feelings with his 'iron-brush'.

The present example has all the qualities of a bottle both owned and decorated by a scholar who must have been both a painter and a seal carver to have been able to create such a painterly picture with so convincing a level of confidence. The studio name is not recorded, but suggests that it is the owner's studio, which he added to the bottle when he carved on it, after purchasing, commissioning or receiving the bottle as a gift.