LATE MING DYNASTY, 17TH CENTURY

Compare the very similar recumbent bronze figure of a mythical beast, described as a paper weight, of slightly smaller size (6.4 cm.) and also dated to the Ming dynasty, in the Robert H. Clague Collection, illustrated by R.D. Mowry in China's Renaissance in Bronze, Phoenix Art Museum, 1994, p. 200, no. 46.