Boucle de ceinture

The piece features a thin hammered layer of gold leaf studded with semiprecious stones including several turquoises. The plate was fastened to a rigid core, probably of leather as suggested by traces of organic matter on the back of the piece.
The shape, characteristic of belt buckles in the Han period, is flared on the right around the vertical hole through which the fabric of the belt was passed. The point where the prong was attached is very visible. A drawn illustration in the journal Wenwu (Sun Ji, 1994, no. 1, p. 62) shows how the fabric belt, attached to one of the buckles, was introduced into the hole in the second buckle. Held by the prong, the fabric was folded first in the other direction, then tied to itself, the end falling vertically.
Buckles like this have been discovered in Hunan, Xinjiang and in Lelei prefecture, in northern Korea. The decoration of the Cernuschi Museum buckle differs from the other belt plates, however, which are usually adorned with dragons with a more or less spiralling and intertwined bodies. This one depicts a couple of felines. The female, on the right, turns to face a male, recognisable by its full mane and leaping, its right paw raised in combat or in courtship. The species of feline is open to question. The vertical marks on the coats suggest tigers, but in that case, the male’s mane shows a disregard for naturalistic depiction and must be a mythological or purely decorative portrayal.
Spiralling motifs and other animals cover the rest of the buckle’s surface: there is a bird (?) top left, a dragon (?) top right and two snakes along the right edge. All these animal motifs evoke the art of the steppes, such exotic themes being fashionable during the Han period within the Empire. Other pieces of precious metalwork executed in China were sent to the northern lands and were among the precious objects prized by Xiongnu princes and other 
Barbarian chiefs.