Warring States Period, ca. 500-400 BC. The hook finely formed by a small dragon head with the arched shaft with intricate and sinuous zoomorphic patterns in gold and silver inlay set flush with the bronze, the reverse cast with a knob inlaid in gold with three cylindrical characters. For further information see Jean-Pierre Dubosc, Arte Cinese; Catalogo della mostra Venezia, Venice, 1954, no. 114. Bernard Karlgren, “Bronzes in the Wessén Collection,“ Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, no. 30, Stockholm, 1958, pl. 33.Size: L:114mm / W:20mm; 60gProvenance: Private collection of a London doctor; formerly in a Somerset Estate collection; acquired from Hong Kong galleries in the early 1990s.