J.J. Lally & Co., Oriental Art / New York City, New York
MenuPast Exhibition
Silver and Gold in Ancient China
March 16 – April 14, 2012
5.
AN INLAID SILVER GARMENT HOOK CAST
WITH A MYTHICAL BEAST
Western Han Dynasty (206 B.C. – A.D. 8)
the auspicious mythical xiangrui cast in high rounded relief, with the head of a horse, feline body, bifurcated horn, and double-scroll tail, its body elongated and twisted to fit the shaft, with chest thrust forward and head held high, the eyes inlaid in jet, the tapered neck at the opposite end with terminal in the form of a dragon’s head turned back to form the hook, the dragon’s eyes also inlaid in jet, the underside with a stud for attachment, showing scattered malachite green encrustation in the recesses.
Length 3 15⁄16 inches (10 cm)
A very similar cast silver garment hook with remains of gold foil inlays but lacking the original dragon-head hook in the Miho Museum is illustrated in the inaugural exhibition catalogue Miho Museum—South Wing, Shigaraki, 1997, p. 206, no. 103.
Compare the bronze garment hook similarly cast with a mythical beast, unearthed in 1958 in Changsha, Hunan province, illustrated by Gao and Liu in ‘Changsha shi dongbei jiao gu muzang fajue jianbao’ (Excavation Report of an Ancient Burial Site Northeast of Changsha City), Kaogu, 1959, No. 12, pl. 1, no. 7.
西漢 鑲黑玉祥瑞銀帶鈎 長 10 厘米
