Fu Ping chiao
Shang dynasty, ca. 12th-11 th century B.C.Height: 22.6 cm Weight: 1225 g
The libation chiao vessel differs from the chueh in lacking columns over the lip. The chiao can be considered a variation of the chueh type.
This chiao has a pointed lip on one end and a pouring spout on the other; its cover is rendered as a bovine animal.
The inscription, cast on both the cover and the vessel, has three characters. The first symbol is of a common type on Shang vessels; its frame is the so-called "ya-hsing" and inside it appears a scene which obviously depicts a sacrifice. This is very possibly a clan symbol. The lower two characters read "Father Ping," the name of a clan ancestor.