NORTHWEST CHINA , 4TH-3RD CENTURY BC

The present ornament, of exceptional quality and made of precious silver, would have been intended for a person of high rank. A bronze example is illustrated by Jessica Rawson and Emma Bunker, Ancient Chinese and Ordos Bronzes, Hong Kong Museum of Art, 1990, pp. 332-33, no. 213, where it is ascribed to western Inner Mongolia and dated 3rd century BC. Bunker compares the bronze example to the present silver ornament and notes that similar silver ornaments were found in excavations at Xigouban in Jungar Qi, western Inner Mongolia. Their weights were inscribed on their backs in late Warring States Chinese script.