The shape is inspired by an archaic bronze ritual vessel with a long cylindrical body and a flared mouthrim. The taotie-mask cast on the mid-section of the bronze vessel is replicated in stylised form on the present jade vase. Rather than keeping to its cylindrical form, the jade example is of a rectangular cross-section which is probably a more practical shape to carve.

A similar jade gu in the National Palace Museum was included in the exhibition, The Refined Taste of the Emperor: Special Exhibition of Archaic and Pictorial Jades of the Ch'ing Court, illustrated in the Catalogue, p. 79; where it is compared with its related bronze version dated to the late Shang dynasty, p. 78.

(US$5,000-7,700)