Liquor containers in the shape of oxen and elephants were used in spring and summer rites. Lishu, or the ancient Chinese Book of Rites states, “the ox and elephant jars are vessels of the Zhou (周) dynasty. An ox is a great sacrificial animal with the scent of its fat fit for spring, and elephants are great beasts produced in the Southern Yue kingdom (南越, today’s Guangdong, Guangxi and the northern part of Vietnam). Therefore, the former kings used these in the spring and summer rituals. ”

Shilin Guangji (事林廣記), compiled by Chen Yuan Jing, also says “Elephant jars are an elephant figure wrapping a hollow jar for decoration, with the diameter of its mouth measuring 1.3 feet, diameter of the bottom measuring 0.8 feet, depth of the interior measuring a foot and a half, and the legs measuring 0.2 feet high.” Early Joseon containers had hollow bodies for holding liquor, but late Joseon pieces have liquor jars on top of their backs.

These vessels in the shapes of an elephant and an ox bear inscriptions of a shrine named “Munhui-myo” (文禧廟), the shrine of Crown Prince Munhyo to where the two vessels belonged. Crown Prince Munhyo was a son of King Jeongjo and Lady Seong who died young at the age of five.