A rare silvery bronze circular mirror with zodiac animals. Sui dynasty (581-618). Photo: Christie's Images Ltd 2012

Crisply cast in high relief with two feline beasts biting each other's tail as they race around the knob while four animals are shown between semi-circles in the main field which is encircled by a sawtooth band, all below a band on the rim in which six animal masks bite the inner edge and separate the twelve animals of the zodiac arranged in pairs, encircled by an outer border of scrolls, with some malachite encrustation; 7½ in. (19.2 cm.) diam., ¼ in. (.5 cm.) thick, box; 1042.2g. Estimate $15,000 - $25,000 

隋 十二生肖紋鍍銀銅鏡

Provenance: Robert H. Ellsworth Collection, New York, acquired in Hong Kong, 1993. 

Notes: This mirror appears to be quite rare, especially the inclusion of the animal masks in the band of zodiac animals on the rim. The semi-circles that separate the animals in the main field are a continuation of a decorative motif first seen on Eastern Han dynasty mirrors, which seem to disappear after the Sui dynasty. A mirror of similar type illustrated in Ancient Bronze Mirrors from the Shanghai Museum, Shanghai, 2005, pp. 216-7, no. 70, also has two lean animals encircling the knob, but within an octagonal border, has more animals in the main field between the semi-circles, and the animal masks separating the animals of the zodiac in the outer band are shown in profile rather than full face as they bite the border. A mirror of this latter type in the collection of the Gotoh Museum is illustrated in the exhibition catalogue, Tang Mirrors, Sen-Oku Hakuko Kan, Kyoto, 2006, p. 13, no. 7. 

Christie's. Luminous Perfection: Fine Chinese Mirrors from the Robert H. Ellsworth Collection, 22 March 2012, New York, Rockefeller Plaza