Contemporary character design gives us front, side, and standard-color sheets, so viewers expect a mythical beast to have one official model. Historical art does not work that way. A maker working in textile, jade, bronze, ceramic, or architecture reshapes the body for the material, while patronage, ritual, and routes of exchange alter what the image means.
Begin with four labels: period, place, material, and function. The Met describes a creature on a Qing vase that appears qilin-like but cannot be positively identified because its feet resemble a lion or tiger. Preserving uncertainty is more rigorous than forcing a label. Qilin-like composite creature can be a better description than false precision.
Compare relationships, not isolated parts. Horn count, wings, hooves, and claws are clues, but clouds, water, direction, people, rank garments, and scholar's objects often explain function more clearly. A qilin on a rank badge participates in status; a qilin paperweight enters the intimate space of study and auspicious display.
Contemporary work may combine versions, but it should leave a path: which object or period was referenced, why proportion, color, or pose changed, and which lines are newly invented. This permits creative freedom while telling the reader that the result is not a reconstruction. Respect does not freeze an image; it gives change a source, an explanation, and no false authority.