EASTERN ZHOU-HAN DYNASTY, 5TH CENTURY BC-3RD CENTURY AD

The mate to this weight, which has been described as a sleeve weight, is illustrated by S. H. Hansford, Chinese Central Asian and Luristan Bronzes and Chinese Jades and Sculpture: The Seligman Collection of Oriental Art, London, 1957, vol. I, pl. XLVIII (A103). Compare the very similar gilt-bronze coiled feline, dated Eastern Zhou, 4th-3rd century BC, illustrated by J. Wirgin (ed.) in The Ernest Erickson Collection in Swedish Museums, Stockholm, 1989, p. 41, no. 39, where the present figure is cited. The design is compared to Scythian antecedents, especially the coiled feline body, and the rendering of the mouth and round eyes.