J.J. Lally & Co., Oriental Art / New York City, New York

A very similarly carved jade scabbard buckle in the collection of the Harvard University Art Museums is illustrated by Loehr, Ancient Chinese Jades from the Grenville L. Winthrop Collection in the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, 1975, p. 395, no. 572; and another similar jade scabbard buckle in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing, is illustrated in Gugong bowuyuan cang wenwu zhenpin quanji (The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum), Jadeware (I), Hong Kong, 1995, p. 220, no. 183, from the Qing Court collection.

Compare the jade scabbard buckle similarly carved with two dragons, discovered in 1977 in a Han dynasty tomb at Mt. Hongtu, Juye county, Shangdong province, now in the collection of the Juye Cultural Relics Administration, published in Zhongguo yuqi quanji (Compendium of Chinese Jades), Vol. 4, Qin, Han, and South and North Dynasties, Shijiazhuang, 1993, p. 91, no. 122, with description on p. 266.

Compare also the jade scabbard buckle carved in a very similar style with a single dragon in high relief, excavated in 1986 at Mancheng, Hebei province from the tomb of Liu Sheng (d. 113 B.C.), the king of the Western Han state of Zhongshan, illustrated in Mancheng Han mu fajue baogao (Excavation of the Han Tombs at Man-ch’eng), Beijing, 1980, Vol. II, pl. 64, no. 5 and shown in line drawings with associated sword furniture in Vol. I of the same excavation report, p. 104, pl. 69, no. 2. Another jade scabbard buckle of more rounded form also carved with a single chi dragon in high relief, excavated in Guangzhou in 1983 from the tomb of the King of Nanyue (d. 122 B.C.), is illustrated by Lam (ed.), Nanyue wang mu yuqi (Jades from the Tomb of the King of Nanyue), Hong Kong, 1991, col. pls. 84 and 85.

See also the similar jade scabbard buckle unearthed in 1978 at Zhangqianhu village, Caotan, northern suburbs of Xi’an, Shaanxi province and now in the collection of the Xi’an Museum, illustrated by Liu in Shaanxi chutu Han dai yuqi (Han Dynasty Jades Unearthed in Shaanxi), Beijing, 2009, p. 165, no. 132.