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Lot Essay
The 16-character inscription cast on the interior of this vessel may be translated, "Shu X Fu made this precious yi for Shi Ji , may his sons and grandsons for ten thousand years always treasure and use it". A rubbing of an identical inscription in a bronze yi is illustrated by Luo Zhenyu in Sandai jijin wencun, juan 17, p. 33.1.
A very similar yi cast on the interior with a lengthy inscription, but with slightly more prominent legs, was unearthed in 1974 in Erxi, Shangguo village, Shaanxi province, and is illustrated in Zhongguo Qingtongqi Quanji - Xi Zhou, vol. 6, no. 2, Beijing, 1997, no. 63. Two other similar yi with cast inscriptions on the interior in the Shanghai Museum are illustrated in Ancient Chinese Bronze Vessels from the Li Yingshuan Collection, The Shanghai Museum, 1996, p. 20, nos. 26 and 27, the latter of which is recorded as having been unearthed near Mount Tai in Shandong.
A very similar yi cast on the interior with a lengthy inscription, but with slightly more prominent legs, was unearthed in 1974 in Erxi, Shangguo village, Shaanxi province, and is illustrated in Zhongguo Qingtongqi Quanji - Xi Zhou, vol. 6, no. 2, Beijing, 1997, no. 63. Two other similar yi with cast inscriptions on the interior in the Shanghai Museum are illustrated in Ancient Chinese Bronze Vessels from the Li Yingshuan Collection, The Shanghai Museum, 1996, p. 20, nos. 26 and 27, the latter of which is recorded as having been unearthed near Mount Tai in Shandong.