WESTERN HAN DYNASTY (206 BC-AD 8)

The motif of an eagle wrestling with a bear, forming the pun on the word for 'champion' or 'hero' from their Chinese characters ying (eagle) and xiong (bear), is a popular subject in Han dynasty art. However, it is very rare to find a small jade carved with such delicate details as the current piece. The rendition of the bear, with its rounded head, bulging eyes, erect ears and sharp claws, are characteristic of bears depicted in Han dynasty art, such as a gilt-bronze bear-form paperweight in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art, accession number John L. Severance Fund 1994.203 (fig. 1). The eagle on the current carving is also comparable to a jade eagle unearthed from a Han dynasty tomb at the Longgang Temple site in Shaanxi province.