L. Newton Hayes, The Chinese Dragon

The paired dragons on Hayes’s ancient brick

Hayes contrasts the paired creatures on this brick with the more elaborate dragons familiar to him in later Chinese art. The creatures face away from one another and wind through a ring. His caption identifies the object as a Han-period brick found near Kaifengfu. Its date and findspot enter this entry through that caption; the visible design supplies a compact example of the dragon’s changing ornamental forms.