Bird-shaped jade belt hooks were highly popular during the Warring States period, and many examples have been unearthed. From the mid-Warring States period through the Western and Eastern Han dynasties, the carvings on jade belt hooks became increasingly refined, with greater stylistic variety and more widespread use. During the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the forms of belt hooks largely echoed those of the Han dynasty but featured smaller hook heads, sometimes carved as phoenix or beast heads. This tradition of bird-shaped belt hooks continued through the Ming and Qing dynasties, with variations in size, pose, and decorative motifs reflecting changing tastes and symbolic preferences. See, for example, a finely carved white jade bird-shaped belt hook, bearing a baby bird on its body, dated Ming dynasty, in the collection of the National Museum of China, Beijing.
The present jade belt hook, carved in the form of a quail holding a millet stalk, exemplifies the Qianlong period’s fondness for rebus symbolism in decorative arts. The quail (anchun) and millet (sui) together form a visual pun on “an sui” (peaceful year). This motif, popular throughout the Qing dynasty, expresses the core Confucian ideal of “anju leye”, a peaceful residence and joyful work, or more broadly, the wish for enduring peace and prosperity.