Garment hook with interlaced dragons and raised uniform curls

• 1. (Hao Sheng, research assistant, October 30, 2002) Illustrated in Max Loehr's 1965 catalog Relics of Ancient China, from the Collection of Dr. Paul Singer (New York: Asia Society, 1965), no. 85c.

  2. (Jeffrey Smith per Keith Wilson, July 22, 2008) "Jewelry" added as secondary classification.

  3. (Daisy Yiyou Wang, January 3, 2012) According to Guo Moruo 郭沫若 in "Xinyang mu de niandai yu guobie 信陽墓的年代與國別," Wenwu 文物, 1958.1:5, based on the inscription on the bronze bells excavated from the tomb from Changtaiguan 長台關, Xinyang 信陽,  Henan 河南, the tomb should date to the late Autumn and Spring period. The format of the two comparable hooks from Xinyang 信陽 tomb is somewhat different from that of S2012.9.2342 in that they have four sections with gold  inlay and three jade plaques. As Xinyang hooks are in excellent conditions due to burial conditions such as the  application of greenish gray clay surrounding the coffin, they provide comparative materials for a further study of  S2012.9.2342 and F1980.209 as the FS pieces have heavily corroded.

  Although S2012.9.2342 and F1980.209 share many similar characteristics, it is noted in Paul Jett's analysis that S2012.9.2342 contains 80.5% gold and 18.7% silver, while F1980.209 contains 91.2% gold and 7.8% silver. The composition of the latter is more consistent with other 6th--5th century gold objects tested. (See Paul Jett et al, "Technical Study and Elemental Analysis of Chinese Gold from the Late Eastern Zhou Period," Scientific
   Research on the Sculptural Arts of Asia: Proceedings of the Third Forbes Symposium at the Freer Gallery of Art
  [Washington, DC: Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, 2007], p. 57.)

  4. (Daisy Yiyou Wang, February 13, 2013) The two Chu 楚 tombs in Xinyang 信陽 were dated to early Warring States period by the report: Henan sheng wenwu yanjiu suo 河南省文物研究所 and Zhongguo shehui kexueyuan kaogu yanjiusuo 中國社會科學院考古研究所, ed., Xinyang Chu mu 信陽楚墓 (Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, 1986), p. 63; color pl. 6; pls. LXIV and LXV. Based on the comparison of the two Xinyang 信陽 hooks, the top trapezoid jade plaque next to the triangular gold plaque, if original  to the hook, should be placed upside down with the shorter side next to the triangular gold plaque. For other comparative pieces, see S2012.9.1906, S2012.9.1799, and F1980.209.

  Title changed from "Garment hook" to "Garment hook (daigou 帶鉤) with dragons and scrolls"; Based on the dating  information in the book Xinyang Chu mu 信陽楚墓, I changed the date from "4th century BCE" to  "5th--4th century BCE"; Period Two changed from "Warring States period" to "Early Warring States period";  Medium changed from "Iron, inlaid with jade, cast gold, and silver" to "Iron with gold, silver, and jade inlay"; Origin  changed from "China" to "Probably Henan province 河南, China."

  5. (Jeffrey Smith per Matthew Clarke, August 2, 2022) Medium changed from "Iron with gold, silver, and jade inlay" to "Iron with gold, silver, and jade (nephrite) inlay."

  6. (Najiba Choudhury per Keith Wilson, February 25, 2023) Title changed from "Garment hook (daigou) with dragons and scrolls" to "Garment hook with interlaced dragons and raised uniform curls"; Period Two changed from "early Warring States period" to "Warring States period"; Date changed from "5th-4th century BCE" to "475-221 BCE"; Geography changed from "China, probably Hunan province, Changsha, kingdom of Chu"; added Chinese Translation by Jingmin Zhang; and added Unpublished Research by Jenny F. So.

Draft catalogue entry (no. 643) for S2012.9.2342 for the catalogue of the Singer Collection (1970-1990); by Jenny F. So
Garment Hook
Eastern Zhou 周 dynasty, Warring States period, 4th century BCE
Cast iron inlaid with gold, silver, jade
Length 16.2 cm (6 3/8 in)

The elongated, rectangular garment hook is richly ornamented with a variety of inlays. Five square cast gold  plaques are inlaid into the broad top of the hook. The fifth piece, at the neck is triangular, while the fourth, just  below it, is missing. Other inlays show a twisted dragon, cast in relief, and are marked by raised commas and  granulated bodies. These plaques alternate with four jade plaques worked with a comma design in relief. 

Remains of silk firmly adhere to the heavily corroded iron. Only the neck is relatively untouched, revealing a  pattern of volutes and curls executed in gold and silver. The hook is heavily corroded. Two virtually identical gold, jade, and silver ornamented iron garment hooks were found in the large fourth century BCE Chu 楚 burial at Changtaiguan 長台關 near Xinyang 信陽, Henan 河南 province. [1] Such lavishly inlaid iron garment hooks, often too large and heavy to have been for everyday use, seem to be a characteristic Chu 楚  product, as another similar example was also found in a Chu 楚 burial at Wangshan 王山, Jiangling 江陵, Hubei 湖北 province. [2] 

The use of cast gold plaques was also totally in character with Chu 楚 practices: it was the only Eastern Zhou state  to use cast gold rather than bronze currency. The choice of iron for what is clearly a luxury item indicates that  the metal was still regarded as a novelty rather than the utilitarian raw material it was to become in a century's  time.  

Published: Max Loehr, Relics of Ancient China, from the Collection of Dr. Paul Singer (New York: Asia Society, 1965), no. 85c.

[1] Henan sheng wenwu yanjiu suo 河南省文物研究所 and Zhongguo shehui kexueyuan kaogu yanjiusuo 中國社會科學院考古研究所, ed., Xinyang Chu mu 信陽楚墓 (Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, 1986), pls. 64, 65:1-2. For another garment hook in a Western collection, see Thomas Lawton, Chinese Art of the Warring States Period: Change and Continuity, 480-222  B.C. (Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1982), cat.  no. 51.

[2] Wen Fong, The Great Bronze Age of China: An Exhibition from The People's Republic of China (New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1980), no. 76.

• Cast for Dignity Early Chinese Belt Hooks from the De-Neng-Tang Collection. Exh. cat. Hong Kong. 63, Fig. 3.