A pair of small gold and silver-inlaid bronze animals, China, Warring States period or later; 8 cm long, boxes. Estimate $15,000 - $25,000. Price Realized $125,000. © Christie's Image Ltd 2015

Each shown crouching with head facing forward and long tail flicked up onto the left side, the solid body inlaid in gold and silver with details and decoration on the head, and on the body below the silver dotted backbone, with areas of green and brown encrustation; 

Provenance: The Collection of Robert H. Ellsworth, New York, before 2000.

Note: When reading, studying, or conversing outdoors with friends and colleagues, Chinese gentlemen of ancient times often sat on mats of woven bamboo strips, the four corners of the unfurled mat anchored with matching animal-shaped weights to prevent the mat from folding back on itself if animated by a breeze or a shift in the gentleman’s position.

Compare the silver and gold-inlaid bronze weight in the form of a tortoise dated to the late Warring States period-Western Han dynasty, 3rd-2nd century BC, from the Sze Yuan Tang Collection, sold at Christie’s New York, 16 September 2010, lot 907.

Christie's. THE COLLECTION OF ROBERT HATFIELD ELLSWORTH PART IV - CHINESE WORKS OF ART: METALWORK, SCULPTURE AND EARLY CERAMICS, 20 March 2015, New York, Rockefeller Plaza.