Elaborately-carved and well-polished, the exterior carved in high relief with archaistic scrolls against low relief fret-patterned ground, a phoenix spreading its wings beneath the spout, with a suspended ring, the handle intricately carved as a Qilong clambering over the rim, all above a dragon base, all finely-detailed; the interior of the mouth inscribed with an imperial poem by the Qianlong emperor, “Hetian yu longwei gong ge” (Song for a Hetian Jade Dragon Tail Rhyton) 《和闐玉龍尾觥歌》in bronze-script characters
H: 7 ¼ in.