Lot 185. Two bronze mirrors, Warring States Period (475–221 BC) and Western Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 24). Width of widest 4 1/2 in., 11.5 cm; 6 1/4 in., 16 cm. Estimate 5,000 — 7,000 USD. Lot sold 4,375 USD. Photo Sotheby's 2014

one mirror thinly cast and decorated with an overall pattern of striated hooks and volutes interspersed with stippling, the center with four trefoil motifs radiating from a circle enclosing the grooved knop, the plain rim with raised edge, smooth green patina; the other cast with four dragons in sinuous linear relief, encircling the square central zone set with a knob in the form of stylized dragon, the edge with a recessed field of sixteen point star, encrusted gray patina (2). 

Provenance: The 'hooks and volutes' pattern mirror:
Collection of Mr. and Mrs. B. d'Ancona, acquired prior to 1951.

Exhibited: The 'hooks and volutes' pattern mirror:
An Exhibition of Chinese Mirrors, The Chinese Art Society of America, New York, 1951, cat. no. 5.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art, New York, 18 march 2014