1-233-743 - The Museum of East Asian Art/Heritage Images

Parcel gilt bronze chamfron with dragons, tortoise and peacock, Western Han dynasty, China, 2nd century BC. A parcel-gilt bronze chamfron applique, one end pointed, the lower end rounded. The piece is decorated with two spindly intertwined dragons above a small tortoise at the rounded end, and at the pointed end a peacock standing with tail displayed, separated by brackets. The reverse has two pairs of loops for attachment. The piece would have been used as a chamfron mount for leather or horse armour worn on the head and along the bridge of the horse's nose.