A silvery bronze circular dragon mirror with inscription. Mid Western Han dynasty,  3rd-2nd century BC. Photo: Christie's Images Ltd 2012

The ribbed loop encircled by a rope-twist border and an inscription, the main field flat-cast with three highly stylized scrolling dragons with interlinked lozenge-shaped tails reserved on a ground of cloud whorls, all within a flat border of linked arcs reserved on a patterned ground;  6 7/8 in. (17.5 cm.) diam., 1/8 in. (.4 cm.) thick, box  - 640.4g . Estimate $12,000 - $18,000

西漢中期 長毋相望銘龍紋鍍銀銅鏡

Provenance: Robert H. Ellsworth Collection, New York, acquired in Hong Kong, 1989. 

Notes: Several features of this Western Han dynasty mirror differentiate it from mirrors of Warring States date. It is thicker, has an outer border of joined arcs and has an inscription.

A very similar mirror, also with an inscription and an outer border of linked arcs, in the Lagrelius Collection is illustrated by B. Karlgren, "Huai and Han," BMFEA, Stockholm, 1990, No. 62, pl. 60 (F 31). Other related mirrors are also illustrated on pls. 51-53, but on all of these the details of the dragon decoration are raised rather than the flat surface of the dragons on the present and Lagrelius mirrors. See, also, the related mirror of this latter type excavated from Western Han tomb number 17 at Yanzizui, Changsha, Hunan province in 1955, which has a more ornate surround to the loop, illustrated in Zhongguo Qingtongqi Quanji - 16 - Bronze Mirrors, Beijing, 1998, no. 38. 

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