A large silver and gold-inlaid bronze garment hook (Daigou), Eastern Zhou dynasty, late Warring States period | 東周 戰國末 銅錯金銀鳳紋帶鉤

Gisèle Croës, New York, 31st March 2000. 

吉賽爾，紐約，2000年3月31日

Intricately inlaid in gold and silver, the present garment hook (daigou) is remarkable for its unusual geometric design, with the principal surface divided by four Z-shaped motifs framed by pairs of crested phoenixes. 

The intricate and fluid design likely reflects the influence of contemporary painted lacquerware. See, for example, a painted lacquer 'ear cup' (erbei), excavated in 1982 from Tomb 1 at Mashan, Jiangling, Hubei Province, and now in the Jingzhou Prefecture Museum, Hubei, painted to the interior with a symmetrical arrangement of two large birds, the body of each composed of four volutes that curve alternately in opposite directions, included in the exhibition The Golden Age of Chinese Archaeology. Celebrated Discoveries from the People's Republic of China, National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., 1999, cat. no. 111.