Description Small belt hook Daigou
Cast bronze, painted(?), malachite green and brownish patina, occasional earth incrustations
Length appx. 125 mm, high appx. 52 mm, depth appx. 18 mm
Ordos or Western Han period, around 200 BC.
Provenance: Sotheby’s London 1992, private collection Austria
The belt buckle is worked in the shape of a winged Ch’ilong dragon in a pierced jump, with the middle part of the triple-split tail turned into a hook. The casting and depiction of movement are excellently executed, a delicate pin had certainly been soldered to the base only in recent times.
A convincing, but simpler comparison piece can be found in: William Watson, Ancient Chinese Bronzes, London 1962/77, No. 80 b and another similar one in: Jessica Rawson/Emma Bunker, Ancient Chinese and Ordos Bronzes, Hong Kong 1990, No. 129, It is not clear whether it was made in Mongolia or north-west China.
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