This mashraba, or drinking vessel, has long been esteemed as a masterpiece of white jade. A powerful inscription is carved around its neck, giving the name and titles of Ulugh Beg (1394–1449), who was a skilled mathematician and astronomer.

Around 1422, Ulugh Beg constructed an observatory in Samarqand (Central Asia), where, along with a team of 60 international scholars, he catalogued nearly one thousand stars, predicted eclipses, and calculated the stellar year within one minute of modern electronic calculations. His work became an important reference and was disseminated throughout Asia and Europe. In 1830 a crater on the moon was given his name.

Two inscriptions added later to the jug name the Mughal rulers Jahangir (r. 1605–27) and his son Shah Jahan (r. 1628–58), legitimizing their rule over India as descendants of Timur the Conqueror (r. 1370–1405), through his grandson Ulugh Beg.