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Dear friends,
It is a pair of metal (brass / bronze?) Chinese dragons (?) (18” x 10”)
I would really appreciate your inputs and help with translating the markings in general 🙏
Tony
(Will post pic of the other one 😊)

Hi,

What you have there is a Qilin (not a dragon). They're legendary creatures from far-Eastern mythology and very benevolent. It's sitting on a pile of Chinese coins.

As for age... Well, I'm afraid to say that's a pretty modern statue. They really are mass produced in China. Still nice though.

It's hard to say from the photos what the metal is. If it's magnetic then it's just painted iron. If it's cold, then it might be bronze. You could scratch just a tiny bit under the base. If the metal underneath is gold, then that points to it being bronze.

Hope this helps,

Dear Suzume,
I am very thankful for your time and expert inputs, as always!!!
Now I know they are Qilin, and I am happy to know that they are known for being benevolent :) So sorry that I have not had time to clean them up before presenting them to our forum.
As you suggested, I test and they are non-magnetic, definitely not painted, and the underneath scratched areas look orange-gold - bronze.
I am very intrigued as for the meaning of the large writings and as for the process on how object like this was made then and now!
Again, many thanks Suzume !!!
Tony

The other one

Areas of scratched surface and the base.
A unique way to seal the base, without the conventional welding!

After a quick wash, now they can be properly introduced... 😊
From the bases, It seems like they were “gold” painted as some point.

Some pics under magnifying glass 😊

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