LATE SHANG DYNASTY, 13TH-12TH CENTURY BC

The inscription cast under the handle consists of an altar positioned below two figures kneeling before a fire. A similar inscription can be found on a late Shang jue in the Shanghai Museum illustrated in Zhongguo qingtongqi quanji - 3 - Shang (3), Beijing, 1997, p. 26, no. 26.

Three jue dated to the 13th-12th century BC, of similar tall proportions and with similar cast decoration, are illustrated by R.W. Bagley, Shang Ritual Bronzes in the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, The Arthur M. Sackler Foundation, 1987, pp. 180-86, nos. 12-14.