Striding Dragon

The maned head, the body, and the tail of this crouching scaleless dragon are of about equal length. The mouth is open wide and equipped with two frontal fangs. A long, snout like upper jaw curves upward and then downward. A single horn emerges from the top of the head, sweeps backward in a low profile, and ends in an upturning spiral. The same movement animates the long eyebrows above the large protruding eyes; they terminate in upturning curls just above the elliptical ears. The long mane stretches across the body and rests on the spine. At the juncture of the thick and sinuous neck and the body are mane like wings, which also sweep back over the sides of the body, almost touching the tip of the head mane. The long, tapering tail bends to the left at its spiraling tip. Tufts of hair mark the joints of the thick muscular legs.

A striding dragon identical to this example belongs to the collection of the Bristol city Art Gallery, and has been dated "probably Wei dynasty." For similar examples of this type of dragon, see the walls of excavated tombs in Szechwan dated to the Han dynasty, and a wall painting from Dengxian, Honan of the late Six Dynasties period.