Ladle

The handle is divided into three sections: a t'ao-t'ieh mask, summarily executed, just behind the bowl; a band of lozenges with a plian, narrow central ridge midway on the handle; and a rather elaborate arrangement of dragons at the end of the handle. The animal forming the terminal curve is a dragon with a bottle horn and a body that bends violently to the left before rising vertically with a leg and claw on the outer (left) side. Toward the end it cleaves, one strand curling out into an ordinary tail, the other going on and ending in a second dragon head at the base of the mid-handle lozenge field. This dragon head has a big crest falling down along the back. The crest takes the shape of a bird, with a big V-shaped horn and a small crest connecting with the forehead of the first dragon a striking and ingenious composition. The dragon body is adorned with rows of scales and with alternating straight and T-shaped scores in the manner of a flange.