A Chinese celadon jade tally

A Chinese celadon jade tally, fu, carved as a flattened stylized tiger, its back with an inscription which reads yu shang tai shou wei hu fu di yi, the stone with russet markings, 5.7cm.

The left half of two-piece tiger tallies, hu-fu, were issued to commanders for Imperial authorisation for troop movement in ancient China. The right half was retained by central government until such time as it was needed.