Chinese Commemorative Vessel with Loop Handles & Inscription

Somebody carved the paperwork right into the iron.

This commemorative vessel with loop handles and inscription comes from Hebei Province, China, and its inscription names the Daoguang reign (1821 to 1850). It is iron. Inscribed vessels in China often recorded when, and for whom, they were made, turning a practical object into a small public record. Columns of characters run down the dark, rounded body, which is built in visible vertical panels and banded at the waist. Long iron loops hang from lugs at either side, and the vessel stands on a flared foot. It is 20.5 inches high and 24 in diameter.

Few buckets have ever been this sure of their own date.