LATE SHANG-EARLY WESTERN ZHOU DYNASTY, 11TH CENTURY BC

He vessels are thought to have been used to mix wine. He with a lobed body and four feet, such as the present vessel, first appeared in the late Yinxu period and were popular in the early Western Zhou dynasty. A similar he found in Liujiazhuang Beidi M1046 in Anyang city, is illustrated by Yue Hongbin ed., Ritual Bronzes Recently Excavated in Yinxu, Kunming, 2008, p. 405, no. 222. The famous early Western Zhou bronze Ke He features a shape very similar to that of the Fujita he. See Wu Zhenfeng, Shangzhou qingtongqi mingwen ji tuxiang jicheng (Complete Collection of Inscriptions and Images of the Shang and Zhou Bronzes), vol. 26, Shanghai, 2012, p. 207, no. 14789. The Ke He inscription records the establishment of the feudal state of Yan in the early Western Zhou period. The Nezu Museum has a he vessel of similar shape with relief animal masks, but its shoulder, spout, and handle are undecorated, see ibid, p. 20, no. 14599.