A silver garment hook, daigou, Western Han dynasty. Estimate US$ 12,000 - 15,000 (€11,000 - 13,000). Photo: Bonhams.

Finely cast, the curved shaft adorned with a writhing mythical beast with the body of a horse, its musculature expertly rendered and gracefully incised with geometric patterns, the elongated shaft tapering to a dragon head hook, the reverse set with a raised circular knob for attachment, with traces of bright green encrustation. 3 ¾in (9.5cm) long

Provenance: J.J. Lally & Co., New York, 16 March, 2002

Notes: Belt hooks came into elite use in the Eastern Zhou period after Chinese contact with Central Asian nomadic populations (see D. Wagner. Iron and Steel in Ancient China, The Netherlands, 1993, p.169). For warriors and gentlemen, hooks were necessary in securing pants and robes against vibrations and movements while on horseback. Evolving beyond their practical purpose and increasing in popularity, belt hooks came to serve as a symbol of luxury and status. The current example, rendered in precious silver, proclaims the original owner's access to sumptuous materials and craftsmen of exceptional skill. The fluid form of the curving hook is an elegant solution to a practical problem. 

In the Han dynasty, auspicious depictions of animals proliferated throughout material culture due to Daoist interest in explorations of the natural world. Regina Krahl explains the Han fascination with interpreting natural phenomena as a means of pursuing immortality and the will of heaven (see Giuseppe Eskenazi, Animals and Animal Designs in Chinese Art, New York, 1998, p.8). Krahl goes on to highlight how Han spirituality and observations of nature came to influence contemporaneous artistic creations, much like this belt hook, which displays a vitally lifelike and yet fantastic quality in its animal form. 

The present piece belongs to a group, in silver or gilt bronze, variably dated to the Warring States period or Western Han dynasty, featuring sculptural depictions of single-horned beasts with bifurcated scrolling tails, equine bodies and feline heads arranged in extravagantly contorted poses. A silver belt hook, perhaps from the same workshop, currently in the collection of the Miho Museum, is almost identical to the present example (see Ancient Art from the Shumei Family Collection, New York, 1996, on pg. 125. The museum's 1999 exhibition catalog Animals in Ancient China notes that a similar bronze example was excavated from a Han dynasty tomb at Luobuwan, Guixian county, Guangxi province). See a very closely related belt hook, lacking incised contour patterns and exhibiting a dragon terminal with eyes of inlaid jet, illustrated in J.J. Lally & Co. Silver and Gold in Ancient China, New York, 2012, as item no. 5.

Bonhams. EIGHT TREASURES FROM A PRIVATE AMERICAN COLLECTION. 16 Mar 2015 11:45 EDT - NEW YORK