Garment hook with masks and disk with raised uniform curls

Object Details

• Description

  The gilded and sharply convoluted surface of this lute shaped belt hook portrays a dragon with a large lupine head and spiral horns facing the dragon head hook. Turquoise accents its eyes and forehead. A smaller raptorlike head, its sharp beak as if gripping the gilded frame for the pale, yellowish white jade ring in the center, occupies the opposite end. Turquoise cabochons are inlaid into its forehead and cheeks. In its claws are the twisted hindquarters of two does, whose heads appear on opposite sides of the jade ring. Turquoise also accents each doe’s head. A rusty brown, blue, and white glass bead fills the perforated center of the jade. The thick gold cover wraps around the edge of the belt hook on to the underside. The button is missing.

• Collection

  Arthur M. Sackler Collection

• Exhibition History

  5000 Years of Chinese Jade (October 1, 2011 to February 19, 2012)

  Traders and Raiders on China's Northern Frontier (November 19, 1995 to September 2, 1996)

  The Arts of China (November 18, 1990 to September 7, 2014)

  In Praise of Ancestors: Ritual Objects from China (September 28, 1987 to January 1, 1989)

• Origin

  China

• Credit Line

  Gift of Arthur M. Sackler

• Type

  Jewelry and Ornament

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  BCE 0s

• Place

  China

• Topic

  Gilding, Bronze, Art, Inlay (process), Chinese Art, Glass, Nephrite, Dragon, Metal-work, Animals, Sculpture, Eastern Zhou dynasty (770 - 221 BCE), Jade, Turquoise, Warring States period (475 - 221 BCE)

• Culture

  Chinese

• Object Type

  Ornaments, Jewelry