Ashmolean Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

The flat circular disc has a narrow central hole and a striding dragon on the rim, as if walking around it. The piece is worked from an opaque pale greenish-white stone with dark grey veins and dark grey patches around the outside. Both sides are similarly decorated with an elaborate scrollwork border composed of stylized dragons and phoenixes surrounding a band of ‘grain’ pattern, all enclosed between plain raised bands. The grain pattern consists of raised bosses, arranged on a regular diaper grid which is faintly visible on the ground. The scrollwork pattern is raised in relief and composed on each side of two pairs of dragons, arranged obliquely to the dragon on the rim and confronted around a scroll motif on one side, and an angled arabesque motif on the other. The animals are depicted with curling bodies and long scrolling tails, the features, claws and tufts of hair finely engraved. Each side further has a phoenix head on a long neck with indicated feathers entwined among the scrolling tails. The dragon on the rim is cut in silhouette, with a winged tiger-like body, scrolling mane and long scrolling tail, also with hair finely detailed, and with cloud motifs on either side.