Three fine gilt-bronze belt hooks

Description:

China, Eastern Zhou dynasty and later
L. 8 - 15,7 cm
Curved shape with a tiger, partly carved in openwork, replaced Jadeite cabochons; small hook with bird motif and a further belt hook with animal motif in relief.
From the Helmut Ploog Collection (1940 - 2024), collected from 1965 onwards
Jade-decorated belt hooks first appear in the 7th and 6th centuries BC, and similar decorations are also found on weapons and other pieces of personal jewellery from this period. Interest in gold in China seems to have spread from the peoples on its western borders during the late Western Zhou dynasty and the early Eastern Zhou dynasty, but the choice of jade may have been specifically in keeping with traditional Chinese taste. The shape and size of such belt hooks varied, and fragments of earlier jade were often used for their inlay, reinforcing the sense of history and individuality. The combination of gemstones and metals on a single piece of such complexity and size made it one of the most luxurious pieces of jewellery of the öEastern Zhou period. One example can be seen in the British Museum, illustrated in J. Rawson, Chinese Jade from the Neolithic to the Qing, London, 1995, no. 21:1, another in the Winthrop Collection, Harvard University, no. 1943.52.61, illustrated ibid., p. 305, fig. 1 - Wear, partly corroded and slightly chipped