A Chinese bronze hufu,Qing dynasty (1644-1911), the two-piece 'tally' in the shape of a crouching tiger, seal characters to back and sides,Hufu was used by an emperor to command and dispatch the army by retaining the right-hand piece and issuing the left-hand piece to the local officials or commanders. Both pieces of the tally had to match each other in order to dispatch the troops by showing the right-hand piece as authorization.