NORTHWEST CHINA, 2ND-1ST CENTURY BC

The plaque is quite similar to one illustrated by Emma C. Bunker, Ancient Bronzes of the Eastern Eurasian Steppes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, The Arthur M. Sackler Foundation, 1997, p. 265, no. 231b, and another, no. 231, which has a third, frontal ibex in the center. This central ibex was not included in plaque no. 231b, but its "bodyless horns" are entwined with the leafy branches. The remains of a hook on the present plaque indicate that it would have been the left-hand half of a complete buckle.