LATE SHANG DYNASTY, 11TH CENTURY BC

The pictogram could possibly read tian (heaven). The shape of the present jue represents typical late-Shang form, with a deep U-shaped spout, long tail and round-bottomed body. With the progression of time, the vertical posts became taller, placed further back from the spout along the rim. Compare also to a jue of very similar decoration illustrated by R.W. Bagley, Shang Ritual Bronzes in the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, Arthur M. Sackler Foundation, 1987, pp. 194-95, no. 18.