Based on a Han Dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD) bronze original, this animal is standing looking ahead. A water dropper is formed as a cicada in the middle of his back. The buffalo is decorated with an archaistic key-fret in turquoise and mauve, the legs in pink and red, the head in blue with pink nostrils and ears, the whole on a black ground. The horns and hoof feet are in gilt-bronze.

Literature: Anthony du Boulay, The Duberly Collection of Chinese Art at Winchester College (Winchester, 2019), p. 129

Provenance: Bequeathed as part of the Duberly Collection, 1978; purchased by Major Montagu and Lady Eileen Duberly from John Sparks, 23 April 1968 (£400)

Location: Treasury, Gallery 2