Terms
Claw and Ball Feet
Claw and ball feet (or ball and claw) termination mainly used on cabriole legs in the first half of the 18th century (though earlier examples occur), representing a bird's or dragon's claw clutching a ball. It derives from an oriental symbol of evil in the world — the dragon's claw grasping a pearl.
Excerpt from
Getty Vocabulary, AAT (claw-and-ball feet, AAT: 300040616).