NORTH CHINA, 1ST-2ND CENTURY AD

The animated pose of this prowling feline ornament can be seen in a bronze belt hook depicting a prowling feline, of similar date, illustrated by J. F. So and E. C. Bunker, Traders and Raiders on China's Northern Frontier, 1995, p. 155, no. 76. A dragon that forms another bronze belt hook, of Western Han date, that also exhibits the same graceful, yet powerful, pose seen in the present ornament, is illustrated in Ancient Chinese Arts in the Idemitsu Collection, Tokyo, 1989, pl. 231. The placement of the rear two legs and feet, and the manner in which the tail curves downward are very similar between the two.