Jar with four lugs

Replacing the two-handled jars of earlier times, four-handled jars gained precedence during the Eastern Han in the south. Four-handled jars of this type have one to three grooved or geometric patterned bands on the shoulder. The special stamped fish design, setting off the inscription on its bottom, was a scheme commonly cast on the bottom of bronze basins. This is a rare piece with a dated inscription, probably from the southern central zone: Hunan, Hubei, or Jiangxi. The stamped inscription at the bottom reads: "Produced on the 14th of May, in the 2nd year of Jian'an" (AD 198, the Eastern Han)".