China, Western Han dynasty, 3rd/ 2nd century B.C. - Lot 40

China, Western Han dynasty, 3rd/ 2nd century B.C. Rare 18k yellow gold belt buckle (daigou) or clothing staple, the hook in the shape of a chilong dragon head, and decorated at the other end with a fantastic animal with twisted horns. L. 7.9 cm - Weight 76.41 g This garment buckle has many features in common with other buckles from the late Combating Kingdoms and Western Han periods (4th to 1st century B.C.): the buckle itself, thin and ending in a narrow, stylized dragon head, and at the other, wider end a fantastic animal head (often with a slightly feline, horned snout). The two are sometimes just intertwined, or seem to represent a battle between two powerful beasts. Here, it's hard to tell whether the two animals are just embedded, or whether one is clasped in the body of the other in the midst of a confrontation. Two elements make this piece particularly rare and beautiful: the fact that it is made of solid gold, and not, like most, of gilded bronze, and its motif showing a chimera's head from which emerge two long twisted horns that curve upwards, intertwined with the sinuous body of a dragon (with scales), forming a perfectly symmetrical and harmonious whole.