Han Dynasty|Skilfully rendered in low relief as a stylised lion mask, the bulging eyes set beneath protruding brows and curling locks of mane, the back pierced with one aperture, the stone of pale grey tone with cloudy and dark inclusions.|5.1cm (2in) long.|Provenance: Sotheby's London, 20 October 1969, lot 80 John Christopherson (1921-1996) collection of Chinese jadesAn English private collection Compare with related examples of jade fittings in the form of a feline face, illustrated by J.Rawson, Chinese Jade: From the Neolithic to the Qing, London, 1995, p.112. Another example of a jade animal-head fitting, Eastern Han, is illustrated in Compendium of Collections in the Palace Museum, Vol.4, Beijing, 2011, pl.270, p.215.