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).