Garment hook (daigou) with an animal head

1. (Jeffrey Smith per Keith Wilson, July 29, 2008) "Jewelry" and "Ornament" added as secondary classification.

2. (Daisy Yiyou Wang, April 18, 2013) Title changed from "garment hook" to "Garment hook (daigou 帶鉤) with an animal  head"; Period One added "Eastern Zhou 周 dynasty"; Period Two added "late Warring States period"; Date added "3rd  century BCE."

For comparative pieces, see a hook (4.4 cm x 1.1 cm) from a tomb assigned to the late Warring States period and published in Guangdongsheng bowuguan fajue xiaozu 廣東省博物館發掘小組 and Zhaoqingshi wenwuju fajue xiaozu 肇慶市文物局發掘小組, "Guangdong  Zhaoqing shi Beiling Songshan gumu fajue jianbao 廣東肇慶市北嶺松山古墓發掘簡報," Wenwu 文物 1974.11: 75--76, fig. 26.

Another hook measuring 5.7 cm in width and 2.2 cm in depth (which was given the name "horse head shaped  hook") was published in Henansheng wenwu yanjiusuo 河南省文物研究所 and Huaiyangxian wenwu baoguansuo 淮陽縣文物保管所, "Henan Huaiyang  Pingliangtai shiliuhao chumu fajue jianbao 河南淮陽平涼台 16號楚墓發掘簡報," Wenwu 文物 1984.10:23, 26, fig. 18:9, and fig. 33.  The tomb from which the hook was found was given a 278--241 BCE date based on the comparison of the tomb  finds with those from other datable tombs. Important to note that this hook made of white jade was found under  the right hand of the tomb occupant.

The two above mentioned hooks were published in Zhongguo yuqi quanji bianji weiyuanhui 中國玉器全集編輯委員會, ed., Zhongguo yuqi  quanji 中國玉器全集 (Shijiazhuang: Hebei meishu chubanshe, 1993), vol. 3, pp. 171, 296, cat. nos. 269--70; pp. 188, 305, cat. no.  295.

Also see Jessica Rawson, Chinese Jade from the Neolithic to the Qing (London: British Museum Press, 1995), pp. 306--307, cat. no. 22:3. Jessica Rawson dated the British Museum hook to the Western Han 漢 dynasty, 2nd--1st century BCE, although she cited the Henan 河南 Huaiyang 淮陽 hook that appeared in Wenwu 文物 in 1984. Also see F1915.229,  published in Thomas Lawton, Chinese Art of the Warring States Period: Change and Continuity, 480-222 B.C. (Washington, DC: Freer Gallery of Art, 1982), pp. 166--67, cat. no. 115. Lawton gave a 4th--3rd century BCE date to the Freer hook.

For other comparable hooks in the Singer collection, see S2012.9.1449, S2012.9.964, S2012.9.1270, S2012.9.1568, S2012.9.1370, S2012.9.1068, and S2012.9.862. 

3. (Jeffrey Smith per Matthew Clarke, August 2, 2022) Medium changed from Jade to Jade (nephrite).

4. (Najiba Choudhury per Keith Wilson, January 23, 2023) Period Two changed from "late Warring States period" to "Warring States period"; Date changed from "3rd century BCE" to "475-221 BCE"; and added Chinese Translation by Jingmin Zhang.