An exceptional and rare gold, silver, turquoise and glass-inlaid bronze garment hook (Daigou), Han dynasty | 漢 銅錯金銀嵌琉璃綠松石帶鉤

Gisèle Croës, New York, 6th May 2004. 

吉賽爾，紐約，2004年5月6日

With its slender elongated proportions surmounted by a dragon head, this garment hook (daigou) is a masterful example of the fully developed tradition of inlaid bronze belt hooks during the Han dynasty. Sumptuously crafted from precious materials, these decorative items reflect the secularization of the bronze industry and the broader distribution of wealth that occurred during the Western Han period. 

Whilst garment hooks of this form, inlaid in gold and silver with geometric patterns, were manufactured in large numbers from the late 6th century BC onwards, the addition of turquoise and turquoise-colored glass inlay is particularly unusual. Here, the multicolored inlays lend a dazzling, luxurious effect to the richly ornamented surface. 

Experimentation with glass inlay was introduced during the Warring States period, but was employed much more frequently from the Han dynasty onwards, often using monochrome glass in place of jade or other colored stones. Small glass inlays simulating semi-precious stones are also found on a few bronze vessels: a hu without cover, inlaid with gold, silver, turquoise, and small circular pieces of red glass probably meant to simulate agate, was excavated in Baoji, Shaanxi, and is now in the Baoji Municipal Museum, Baoji, illustrated in Li Xueqin, ed., Zhongguo meishu quanji: Gongyi meishu bian [Complete series on Chinese art: Arts and crafts section], vol. 5: Qingtong qi [Bronzes], vol. 2, Beijing, 1986, pl. 171; and a silver-inlaid egg-shaped bronze tripod dui in the British Museum, London, illustrated in Jessica Rawson, ed., The British Museum Book of Chinese Art, London, 1992, p. 72, fig. 45, is also believed to have featured small dots of glass. 

A small number of garment hooks of this type are known. Compare one from the Sze Yuan Tang Collection, illustrated in The Glorious Traditions of Chinese Bronzes, Asian Civilisations Museum, Singapore, 2000, cat. no. 64; and another illustrated in Treasures from the Shang and a Selection of Ritual Objects, Gisèle Croës, New York, 2001, pl. 79. A garment hook inlaid with turquoise, rather than turquoise-glass, is illustrated Early Chinese Art from Tombs and Temples, Eskenazi Ltd., London, 1993, cat. no. 13, and is now in the Uldry Collection, illustrated in Chinesisches Gold und Silber, Reitberg Museum, Zurich, 1994, cat. no. 36.