EARLY WESTERN ZHOU DYNASTY, 11TH-10TH CENTURY BC

The inscription cast on the interior of both the cover and the vessel reads [] zuo Zu Yi bao zun yi, which may be translated, '[] made this precious vessel for Grandfather Yi'.

A you of similar size and decoration, but with tapir-head terminals, is illustrated in Hakutsuru Kikkinshu (Collection of Hakutsuru Art Museum), Kyoto, Japan, 1939, no. 13.