This is one of two pairs of crossbow fittings excavated from Tomb 1 at Shuangrushan.[1] The rectangular hollow sockets taper into the elegantly curving neck of a fantastic feline-like head. Raised ridges along the edges of the long neck enhance the transition and give the neck a stronger definition.

Until the 1972 discovery of a crossbow alongside a chariot in the Warring States horse pit at Zhongzhoulu at Luoyang in Henan, these fittings were commonly thought to belong to chariots.[2] It appears that these pairs of fittings may have “actually functioned as part of a crossbow and were meant to hold a bow.”[3] Also inlaid with gold and silver, the pair found at Luoyang are similar in form to this pair but have more serpent-like heads.[4] Another two pairs of crossbow fittings were found, one inlaid and the other gilt bronze with inlaid stones, in the tombs of Liu Sheng and Dou Wan at Mancheng, Hebei. They are very similar in shape, including their feline-like animal heads, to this pair from Shuangrushan.[5] Variants of this kind of feline or leonine head, clearly belonging to auspicious and protective creatures, become ubiquitous in the Han dynasty, appearing on the large stone bixie that guard tombs and on smaller objects such as jade belt hooks, bronze lamp supports (cat. no. 10), and a jade pillow from Shuangrushan (cat. no. 35).[6]