Jue (vessel)

[1] It takes the form of an ovoid body supported by three splayed triangular legs, with a long curved spout (liu 流) on one side and a counterbalancing flange (wei 尾) on the other.

Pottery and lead copies continued to be made and used as grave goods or spirit utensils (mingqi).

[4] Most jue (like other Chinese bronzes) were created by casting molten metal in pottery moulds, but one jue appears to have been made using the much earlier method of hammering sheet metal that might have been introduced from western Asia, where bronze metallurgy is believed to have been developed 2,000 years before it appeared in China.

Their ritual use is indicated by oracle bone inscriptions that suggest that they were used to heat and pour wine during oracular ceremonies in which the owner's ancestors and the Supreme Deity (Shangdi 上帝) were invoked.

[6] Traces of soot have been found on the legs and bottoms of a fewjue, indicating that some of them were placed directly into fires to heat their contents.