A PARTIALLY GILT BRONZE CROSSBOW TRIGGER MECHANISM, GE
China, Han dynasty

12,3 x 9,5 x 2,9 cm

Provenance : Fabrizio Savi collection, acquired from a private collector in Bruxelles between 1995and 2000.
The crossbow makes its appearance in the Chinese army equipment during the Warring States period, about a thousand years before Europe, in particular among the ranks of armigers available to the southern state of Chu, adopted briefly by all the other rivals for the launch range with which the arrows could be thrown.
For a similar crossbow in the MAO of Turin, see L'arte per la vita nell'Aldilà. Capolavori di arte antica cinese dalla collezione Meidaozhai (3 voll.). Volume secondo. La dinastia Han, a cura di M. Pirazzoli-t' Serstevens, Torino 2002, p. 83, n. 189.