The base of this jue is inscribed with a slightly obscured mark in archaic script with a mark, reading Boshen Zuo Baoyi, 'Boshen made this precious yi'. Yi may be translated as a cup or libation vessel. Compare to a similar jue bearing a same mark included in the Oriental Ceramic Society of Hong Kong Exhibition, Arts from the Scholar's Studio, 1986, Catalogue, no. 161; and another sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 30 April 2001, lot 771.

It is interesting to note that not only the form and decoration were copied in reverence to archaism but the inscription has been taken directly from characters inscribed on late Shang/early Zhou dynasty vessels. The name Boshen appears to be unrecorded.