Bronze You ( wine vessel ) with Swinging Handle and Phoenix Design and inscription 'ge'

“You” is a kind of wine vessel with an oval shape and has primary and secondary mouths and a cover on it. When it is filled with wine and covered by a lid, the fragrance of wine will not overflow at all. There are swing-handles on the body of the You for carrying it. The phoenix designs decorated on the cover and body is a lucky bird favored in ancient China, which appeared in the period of late Shang Dynasty and was prevalent in the Western Zhou Dynasty. When the Bronze You with phoenix design was unearthed, there were more than 300 jade wares in it. So many precious bronzes and jades are obviously cached all together as treasures. The inscription “戈” on both the cover and interior bottom of this bronze is a family symbol. The Clan of Ge was a distinctive family in the Central Plain in the period of Xia and Shang. Lots of bronzes have the same inscription. The utensil of the clan of Ge Hunan proved that people of the family of Ge had already come into Hunan in the late Shang Dynasty..