The Pan has a pair of loop handles rising from the shoulder, and four recumbent animals supporting the foot ring of the vessel with their backs. In the form of an animal, Yi vessel has an ovoid-shaped body, a wide channel-formed spout, four flat animal-shaped legs, and a handle in the form of an arched dragon biting the rim, with a coiled tail.

Both served as water vessels for washing and cleaning purposes, Yi and Pan were often paired with each other. The inscribed character “Shan” is an aristocratic clan, according to the Bamboo Annals, the Huang state derived from the Huangdi, the Yellow Emperor who resided at Xuanyuan with a surname Gongsun, rising from the southern China, predominated over the Huai River basin of the time.