WESTERN HAN DYNASTY (206 BC - AD 8)

Weights of this type, made during the Warring States period and Han dynasty, appear to have been used to hold down the corners of woven mats used for seating or for the board game liubo. They were usually made in the shape of animals, often coiled to form a circle, or in the shape of human figures, and even mountains. They were usually made of bronze, and often sumptuously decorated in gilding, or inlaid with gold, silver and gemstones to convey the high social status of the owner.

A related bronze tiger-form weight from the collection of Dr. Paul Singer was included in the 1965 Asia House Gallery exhibition and published in the catalogue by M. Loehr, Relics from Ancient China, New York, 1965, pl. 128, no. 114, where it was dated late Eastern Zhou. Another example, without inlay, now in the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, Stockholm, was included in the Mostra D'Arte Cinese/Exhibition of Chinese Art, Venice, 1954, p. 28, no. 97.