166. COMPTE-GOUTTES EN BRONZE INCRUSTÉ D'OR ET D'ARGENT XVIIe/XVIIIe siècle A GOLD AND SILVER-INLAID BRONZE WATER DROPPER 17th/18th century Cast in the shape of a bixie, lying on its four legs, the horned head raised and holding a small recepticle in its mouth, with a powerful body and a small aperture on the back, gold and silver-inlaid detailing, the underside with an eight-character inscripton reading erliangjian changyi yunyou le, fitted wood stand 13cm (5 1/8in) long (2). 十七/十八世紀 銅錯金銀辟邪水滴 Provenance: Private collection, New York (by repute) Sotheby's New York, 18 March 2014, lot 253 來源： 紐約私人收藏（傳） 紐約蘇富比，2014年3月18日，編號253 Small bronze water droppers with tiny cups such as this piece were used to dispense water to an inkstone drop by drop. Small and delicate, they were made in many forms. Compare a gold- and silver-inlaid bronze tortoise water dropper from the Clague Collection, illustrated in Robert D. Mowry, China's Renaissance in Bronze. The Robert H. Clague Collection of Later Chinese Bronzes 1100-1900, pp.198-199, no.44.