HAN DYNASTY OR LATER

Weights of this type are believed to have been used to hold down the corners of mats used for seating, and would have been made in sets of four. Compare three gilt-bronze weights dated to the Han dynasty nearly identical in style in the Harvard Art Museum, object number: 1943.52.43.A; and two bronze weights in the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C., one dated to the Han dynasty and very similar to the present weight in the style of casting, see accession number: S2012.9.2180, and another example dated to the Western Han dynasty with parallel indented lines on the bodies of the animals and an inscription above a key-fret band on the circular platform, see accession number: S2012.9.2296. Compare also a similar Han-dynasty bronze weight sold at Christie’s New York, 18-19 September 2014, lot 1009.