the mythical beast depicted with the head of a horse and a goat-like beard, set with a pair of central horns between the pointed ears, its feet with crisply-cast hooves, its ridged spine terminating into a bushy tail curled around the left hind leg

Modelled in the form of a rare mythical beast, the present paperweight is exceptional for its realistic sculpturing, impressive body weight and substantial gilding. The Ming scholar, Wen Zhenheng (1585-1645) mentions the use of bronze paperweights in the form of bluish-green toads, crouching tigers, chilong, sleeping dogs, recumbent horses and others in his work titled Zhangwu zhi [Treatise on superfluous things]; see Robert D. Mowry, China’s Renaissance in Bronzes. The Robert H. Clague Collection of Later Chinese Bronzes 1100-1900, Phoenix, 1993, p. 201.

Another bronze mythical beast paperweight of identical form and casting style included in the exhibition Arts from the Scholar’s Studio, Fung Ping Shan Museum, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 1986, cat. no. 194, was sold in these rooms, 8th Aꦗpril 2013, lot 168, from the Water, Pine and Stone Retreat collection.