A celadon jade 'mythical beast' water dropper and a cover, Ming dynasty

Compare a closely related water dropper with its cover in the Ch’eng Chai Collection, exhibited in Chinese Jades from Han to Ch’ing, The Asia Society, New York, 1980, cat. no. 109. See also a related example without cover in the Worrell Collection, illustrated in John Ayers, A Jade Menagerie: Creatures and Imaginary from the Worrell Collection, London, 1993, p. 17; and another in the Museum Für Kunsthandwerk, Frankfurt, illustrated in Das Chinesische Steckenpferd. Die Sammlung Carl Cords, Frankfurt, 1982, pl. 113.