3D Gallery of the IHP

This artifact is an inscribed turtle plastron bearing a divinatory record from the Late Shang period. The inscription records a divination performed on the day bingchen, inquiring whether an abundant millet harvest would be obtained, presented in the paired positive-and-negative charge format known as duizhen (contrasting divination). The text is arranged in two mirrored columns radiating outward from the plastron's central ridge line, to be read from top to bottom, with the right-hand text reading right to left and the left-hand text reading left to right. The reverse bears a prognostication text inscribed after the divination, recording that the omen was judged auspicious and foretold a bountiful harvest.

(This English translation was produced with the assistance of AI (Anthropic Claude).)