Finial with Animal

This animal, resembling a horse, has eyes inlaid with turquoise. The pose and treatment of the details the tense, straight legs converging to balance on a small surface; the slender body; and the line of the neck continuing almost directly the line of the front legs, are strikingly similar to those found in the Northern Nomad animal style. One might be tempted to class this piece as a product of the Steppe culture were it not for the fact that the patina is the well known An-yang (Honan) patina, which is very unlike that of objects from the Steppe. Moreover, since the shape of the pole top is well known from Yin and Early Chou exaples and since, in recent years, an entire series of style elements typical of the Nomad Art has cropped up among the An-Yang finds dating from the second millenium B.C.(see Bmfea, Volume 17, page 101 ff.), there should be no hesitation in assigning this example to the An-Yang culture or its immediate aftermath. Patina blue-green.