A Rare Small Parcel-Gilt Silver and Cowrie Shell Garment Hook

WESTERN HAN DYNASTY (206 BC- AD 8)

Details

A Rare Small Parcel-Gilt Silver and Cowrie Shell Garment Hook
Western Han dynasty (206 BC- AD 8)
The heavy silver mount finely worked as a recumbent dragon with long neck gracefully curved backwards to form the hook, the elongated head with duck-like bill and small expressive eyes, a slender crest trailing from the back of the head grasped in the right front claw, while the talons of the left front claw grasp the other side of the neck, all of the legs with an additional long curved claw rising from the knees and those on the back legs rising to frame and hold the small russet-marked cowrie shell that forms the beast's body, the short, ribbed tail curved around to form a loop in back, with a large circular button on the underside
2in. (5.1cm.) long, box

Lot Essay

There appear to be no other published examples of garment hooks of this particular form with a cowrie shell body. The fine, brown, spotted markings of the shell have been incorporated into the design to suggest scales or feathers covering the bird-headed dragon's round back. Cowrie shells are similarly utilized in examples of gilt-bronze mat weights, examples of which typically date to the Western Han dynasty. Though often in the form of stags or deer, these mat weights were also created in the form of rams and tortoises. In each case the cowrie was used to represent the fur or shell of the animal. An additional meaning to using cowries in these bronze figures was their connotation of wealth. Cowries were used as currency in ancient China, and ornaments inset with these shells would have enhanced the prestige of the owner. For a pair of gilt-bronze and cowrie shell weights of stag form, see the Falk Collection I, Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 20 September 2001, lot 181.

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