This archaic bronze vessel with its trumphet-like silhouette, horizontal flanges and 'two-eyed' and spear motifs is an example of late Shang 'gu' beakers. Together with two other tripod vessels, the jue and jia, the gu formed a basic wine drinking set during the Shang (c.1600-1027 BCE) and Zhou (c.1027-256 BCE) dynasties. The shape of the gu beaker was later adopted in ceramic form. This was in line with the scholar's taste for archaism and antiquarianism.
