The inscription may be translated, 'A mandate given on royal authority for the bearer to be rented accommodation and provided with food'

The jie is based on a Warring States example excavated from a tomb in 1946 in Changsha and is illustrated in Zhongguo meishu quanji, Gongyi meishu qingtongqi (A Complete Collection of Chinese Art; Arts and Crafts; Bronzes), vol. 5, Beijing, 1986, figs. 149 and 150. This kind of tally was a kind of travel pass. According to the Zhou Li, during the Zhou period there were different tallies for different states and were of different shapes, i.e., tiger, humanoid and dragon