The result of the Oxford Authentication thermoluminescence test no. C199y91 dates the object to the period. This is an unusual model of a tiger form mount. A well known group of two tigers of smaller size, in a more naturalistic style, are recorded; one now in the Metropolitan Museum of Ar t, New York, illustrated by Hearn, Ancient Chinese Art, 1987, exhibition catalogue, no. 13; another by Siren, Kinas Konst under Tre Artusenden, Stockholm, 1943, pl. 41A.

The large size of the present animal suggests it was part of an ensemble of monumental scale. A large rectangular shaped pan resting on four tiger form feet from the late Spring and Autumn period is illustrated in Zhongguo Wenwu Jinghua Da Cidian (Anthology of Gems of Chinese Cultural Relics), pl. 743