A RARE PUDDINGSTONE 'TIGER' MAT WEIGHT Han Dynasty The recumbent feline beast boldly carved with its paws and legs neatly tucked underneath the body, its head slightly raised, detailed with small ears and bulging eyes set under curving brows, the stone cleverly used to represent the animal skin. 10.2cm (4in) long. Footnotes: Please note this Lot is to be sold at No Reserve. 本拍品不設底價 漢 抱子石刻瑞獸 Published, Illustrated and Exhibited: Roger Keverne Ltd., Summer Exhibition, London, 2008, no.103 出版著錄：Roger Keverne Ltd.，《夏季展覽》，倫敦，2008年，編號103 For similar examples, see J.Li, Eternal China: Splendors from the First Dynasties, Dayton, 1998, pp.142-143, no.53, for a pair of weights, Western Han, unearthed in Xingping County and now in the Maoling Museum, Xi'an, where it is noted that this type of stone is called zhuyeyan (bamboo-leaf stone), and that objects carved from it are quite rare. This type of mat weight is more commonly found cast in gilt-bronze: see, for example, M.Wang, A Bronze Menagerie: Mat Weights of Early China, Boston, p.79, fig.c, for an example in the collection of the Shanghai Museum. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com