Garment hook (daigou) with an animal head and ridges in the style of the Warring States period

1. (J. Smith per Keith Wilson, 7/29/2008) Jewelry and Ornament added as secondary classification.

2. (Daisy Yiyou Wang, 04/18/2013) Title changed from "garment hook" to "Garment hook (daigou) with an animal head and ridges in the style of the Warring States period"; period one added "Possibly modern"; medium changed from "jade" to "Possibly jade".  Need to check the stone to see whether it is jade or other type of stone.

For comparative pieces, Also see Rawson, Jessica. Chinese Jade from the Neolithic to the Qing. London: British Museum Press, 1995,p. 306-07, cat. no. 22:3. Jessica Rawson dated the British Museum jade hook which has two bands with raised parallel bars to the Western Han dynasty, 2nd-1st century B.C.E.although she cited the Henan Huaiyang hook appeared in Wenwu in 1984.

Also see a hook (4.4 cmx1.1 cm) from a tomb assigned to the late Warring States period and published in Guangdongsheng bowuguan and Zhaoqingshi wenwuju fajue xiaozu 广东省博物馆、肇庆市文化局发掘小组 (Guangdong Provincial Museum and Zhaoqing City Cutlural Bureau Exacavation Team). Guangdong Zhaoqingshi Beiling Songshan gumu fajue jianbao广东肇庆市北岭松山古墓发掘简报 (A Summary Report of the Excavation of the Ancient Tomb at Beiling Songshan, Zhaoqing City, Guangdong Province). Wenwu, no. 11, issue 222 (1974): 75-76, fig. 26.

Another hook measuring 5.7cm in width and 2.2 cm in depth (which was given the name "horse-head shaped hook") was publsihed in Henansheng wenwu yanjiusuo and Huaiyangxian wenwu baoguansuo. “Henan Huaiyang Pingliangtai shiliuhao chumu fajue jianbao 河南淮阳平粮台十六号楚墓发掘简报(A Summary Excavation Report of the Chu Tomb No. 16 at Pingliangtai, Huaiyang, Henan Province)”. Wenwu , no. 10, issue 341 (1984): 23, 26, fig. 18: 9, fig.33. The tomb from which the hook was found was given a 278-241 B.C.E. 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.

Two above-mentioned hooks were published in Zhongguo yuqi quanji bianji weiyuanhui comp. Zhongguo yuqi quanji 中国玉器全集 (Comprehensive Collection of Chinese Jade), vol. 3: Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods. Shijiazhuang: Hebei meishu chubanshe, 1993, pp. 171, 296, cat. nos. 269-70; pp.188, 305, cat. nos. 295.

 Also see F1915.229 published in Lawton, Thomas. Chinese Art of the Warring States Period: Change and Continuity, 480-222 B.C. Washington D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982, pp. 166-67, cat. no. 115. Lawton gave a 4th-3rd century B.C.E. date to the Freer hook.

For other comparable hooks in the Singer collection, see RLS1997.4615, 4610, 4580, 4590, 4620, 4609.