In the catalogue entry to the Asia House Gallery exhibition Watt notes that weights of this form occurred in the Song dynasty. Bronze examples dated to the Yuan dynasty have been found in Inner Mongolia. Two wooden weights of similar form with nephrite knobs now in the Shanghai Museum were excavated from the Wanli period tomb of Zhu Shoucheng in Shanghai and are illustrated by Li and Watt in The Chinese Scholar's Studio: Artistic Life in the Late Ming Period, no. 69. In the catalogue entry Robert Mowry notes, "Characteristics to be observed in these pieces are the meticulous craftsmanship, seen especially in the indented edges along the top, and the preference for old jade knobs. The careful articulation of the top edge was also copied in the Ming jade versions".