Ritual wine vessel with lid (he)

For all its modest appearance, this he is so far the only one of its kind in existence. Basically, a cylinder with constricted neck and foot, it is covered with a domed lid with a tubular knob and is equipped with a slightly conical spout, a bow-shaped handle, rectangular in section, and two lugs that may have been borrowed from contemporary Hu vessels. In addition, a loop located on the neck indicates that the lid was originally chained to the body. The spout is incised with four rising blades and a band of barbed spirals. The body decoration is restricted to three bands on the lid, neck and front. These bands divided into four panels reproduce variants of the same ornamental scheme: four double-tailed turning dragons in flat relief against a meander background. The otherwise plain handle is crowned by a bovine head with free-sculptured ears. The same three-glyph inscription is cast inside the lid and under the handle. The first graph is an old form of ( shan for "mountain"); the second awaits proper identification; the third is ( fu for "father").