China, Western Han dynasty, 206 BC – 8 AD

Diameter at base: 2 3/8 inches, 6 cm
Height: 13/8 inches, 3.5 cm

A pair of inlaid bronze weights, each in the form of a recumbent tiger biting the rump of a kneeling boar. The tiger uses its front paws to steady himself, and its tail is swept underneath its hindquarters, re-emerging on the animal’s back. The distinctive markings of both animals are precisely delineated by silver and gold inlays. The eyes of the tiger are inlaid in glass. The circular bases are encircled by a broad band of silver and two narrow gold bands. The bronze retains traces of a malachite patination.

It is not entirely clear what the purpose of small bronze weights such as this fine pair is, but it is generally assumed that they were used – in sets of four – to weigh down a mat or funeral shroud. It has also been suggested that, in everyday life, they might have been used as scroll weights. Such weights were in use from the Warring States period (475 – 221 BC) onwards, but the theme of animals in combat is probably influenced by the metalwork of the Eurasian Steppes, which frequently depicts such scenes in extreme realism 1 . The subject of a tiger attacking a boar appears to be uncommon; a pair of similar weights is in the Shumei Collection, Miho Museum 2. According to the Zhou commentator Li Chi, the tiger’s ferocity symbolises the severity of the Autumn: ‘They met (the representatives of the) cats, because they devoured rats and mice (which injured the fruits) of the fields and those of the tigers, because they devoured the wild boars (which destroyed them). They met them and made offerings to them.’ 3. A set of four weights in gilt bronze depicting tigers attacking leopards, is in the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto 4. The tiger is said to be symbolic of the west, autumn, the element metal and the colour white 5. A single silver-inlaid bronze weight depicting a recumbent tiger is in the Uldry collection 6 .

1 A bronze plaque depicting several leopards attacking a boar was excavated in 1956 from a tomb in the necropolis of the Dian kingdom in Yunnan province, see: Ancient Chinese Bronzes by William Watson (London 1962) plate H(b)
2 See: Orientations October 1997 issue, p. 58
3 translated by James Legge (Oxford 1885) p.432
4 See: Homage to Heaven, Homage to Earth, Chinese Treasures of the Royal Ontario Museum by Barbara Stephen et al. (Toronto 1992) no. 62
5 ibid. p. 112
6 See: Chinesisches Gold und Silber, die Sammlung Pierre Uldry, by Pierre Uldry et al. (Zürich 1994) no. 86