EARLY WESTERN ZHOU DYNASTY, 11TH-10TH CENTURY BC

An early Western Zhou bronze you vessel cast with a very similar inscription in the vessel and the cover, reading Lei zuo bao yi, is in the Shanghai Museum. The rubbings of the inscriptions on the Shanghai you are illustrated by Wu Zhenfeng in Shangzhou qingtongqi mingwen ji tuxiang jicheng [Compendium of Inscriptions and Images of Bronzes from the Shang and Zhou Dynasties], vol. 23, Shanghai, 2012, no. 13017. The first Chinese character of the inscription, lei, originates from the farming tool plow, possibly indicating that the individual associated with the inscription had a connection to agriculture.