Garment hook with dragons, masks, disks, and fluted beads

1. Bought from Dr. J. D. Cheng [Chen Rentao] 陳仁濤, Hong Kong. For price, see Freer Gallery of Art Purchase List after 1920.

2. (Thomas Lawton, 1982) Added "Warring States--Western Han periods, 3rd century BCE."

In Chinese Art of the Warring States Period: Change and Continuity, 480--222  B.C. (Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1982), cat. no. 71:  This garment hook is one of the most ornate in the Freer collection. Observing strict symmetry throughout, fantastic animal forms merge into one another and are embellished with a variety of rich, coloristic materials that enhance the total visual effect.

The realistically modeled dragon head that constitutes the hook itself is inlaid with abstract gold and silver designs; it protrudes from the mouth of another dragon on the body of the garment hook. Easing the transition between different portions of the garment hook, slender, twisting horns extend from gold monster masks at either end of the piece. These horns are accentuated by an alternating pattern of inlaid gold and silver. Between the horns are ribbed jade carvings that function as necks for the dragons. The reticulation of the horns and necks of the dragons lends the garment hook an openness and lightness. Wings and curving legs with sharp claws that project from either side of the garment hook emphasize the protean aspect of the creatures. Scale patterns in gold inlay hint at their serpentine nature without specifically defining them.

Ovoid and circular jade discs of varying sizes are inset into the outer surface of the garment hook. The largest of these, at the center of the garment hook, is in the form of a splayed animal, the body modeled in low relief.  Diagonal striations and crosshatching further enhance the design. Of equally fine quality is the jade monster mask at the lower end of the garment hook. Eleven small circular glass insets further embellish the surface of the piece.

An abstract pattern of curvilinear silver bands decorates the underside of the central portion of the piece.Similar silver decoration appears on the large, flat button. A small rectangular flange with a circular perforation projects at right angles just below the neck at the back of the garment hook.

According to Ch'en Jen t'ao [Chen Rentao] 陳仁濤, the Freer garment hook is from Ch'ang sha [Changsha] 長沙, Hunan 湖南 province. [1] A garment hook, slightly shorter in length (18.4 cm) and less flamboyant in design, was unearthed in tomb 5 at Ku wei ts'un [Guwei cun] 固圍村, Hui  Hsien 輝縣, Honan 河南 province. At either end of that piece are monster masks with attenuated twisting horns. [2]

[1] Ch'en Hen t'ao [Chen Rentao] 陳仁濤, Chin kuei lun ku ch'u chi [Jingui lung u chu ji] 金匱論古初集 (Xianggang: Yazhou shiyinju, 1952), pp. 91--92. Ch'en [Chen] 陳 describes the piece as being from the state of Ch'u [Chu] 楚 and dating from the Warring States period.

[2] Chung-kuo k'o-hsueh-yuan k'ao-ku yen-chiu-so [Zhongguo kexueyuan kaogu yanjiusuo] 中國科學院考古研究所, Hui Hsien fa-chueh pao-kao [Hui xian fajue baogao] 輝縣發掘報告 (Beijing: Kexue chubanshe, 1956), pp. 104--5, fig. 132, pl. 74.

3. (Jeffrey Smith per Keith Wilson, July 17, 2008) "Jewelry" added as secondary classification.

4. (Susan Kitsoulis per Keith Wilson, March 14, 2011) Object Name and Title changed from "Belt hook" to "Garment Hook."

5. (Jeffrey Smith per Matthew Clarke, July 8, 2022) Medium changed from "Bronze with gold, silver, and jade" to "Bronze with gold, silver, glass, and jade (nephrite and serpentine) inlay."

6. (Najiba Choudhury per Keith Wilson, March 28, 2023); Title changed from "Garment hook" to "Garment hook with dragons, masks, disks, and fluted beads"; Period Two changed from "Eastern Zhou to Western Han dynasty" to "Eastern Zhou dynasty, Warring States period or Western Han dynasty"; Date changed from "ca. 3rd century BCE" to "475 BCE–9 CE"; Geography changed from "China" to "China, probably Hunan province, Changsha, kingdom of Chu"; added Chinese translation by Jingmin Zhang; added the following to the Description field, "Belt hook; inlaid with silver, gold, glass, and jade; found at Changsha 長沙."