WESTERN ZHOU DYNASTY (1100-771 BC)

The inscription to the interior of the base can be read 'in the gengyin date of the fourth month during the jisipo moon phase (the fourth quarter), Zhen made Yi this precious gui vessel. May his sons and grandsons use it for ten thousand years.'
Compare the current vessel to a gui of similar form, supported on three feet and with comparable horizontal grooves characteristic of the late Western Zhou dynasty, illustrated by Jessica Rawson in Western Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, vol. IIB, p. 446, no. 57.