Lot 10. A pair of small Ordos gold fittings, 6th-4th century BC, 2.6cm., 1in. Estimate 1,000 — 1,500 GBP. Lot sold 6,250 GBP. Photo: Sotheby's.

each worked from gold sheet as a tiger mask with bulging eyes, pointed ears and striated mane with a small hole at the centre for attachment. Quantity: 2. Weight 2.5g.

Exhibited: Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., 1954-55, cat. no. 30.

Literature: Gyllensvärd, 1953, pl. 30.

Ulricehamn, 1999, pl. 28. 

Note: See a number of related small gold and silver tiger-mask fittings unearthed from Ordos sites in Inner Mongolia, illustrated in Erduosi shi qingtong qi, Beijing 1986, pl. 115:1-5.

Sotheby's. Masterpieces of Chinese Precious Metalwork, Early Gold and Silver; Early Chinese White, Green and Black Wares, London, 14 May 2008