PAIR OF CROUCHING MYTHICAL BEASTS.

CHINA.

WARRING STATES PERIOD.

475 – 221 BC.

L. 10 CMS, 4 INS.

A pair of striking bronze mythical beasts, each animal cast in a crouched position with legs tucked underneath and tail curled around its haunches as if the animal is waiting to pounce, its head held low with nose upturned, teeth bared and ears flat, a central horn curling between the ears; their bodies exquisitely inlaid with decorative silver spirals.

These bronze mythical beasts were probably used as weights. Compare to a bronze ox dating to the Warring States period, unearthed in 1956 in Shou County, Anhui province and illustrated as cat. no. 4-1-10, page 63, National Museum of Chinese History, Exhibition of Chinese History, Beijing: Morning Glory Publishers, 1998.

PROVENANCE: Private English collection. Acquired by the owner’s father during employment with the British Foreign Service during the 1950s or 1960s.