Lot 723. A silvery bronze octalobed mirror, China, Tang dynasty (AD 618-907);8 ¼ in. (20.6 cm.) diameter; 1268 g. Estimate $10,000 - $15,000. Price Realized $8,125. Photo Christie's Image Ltd 2015

Of kuihua shape, the knob flanked by a pair of birds with shou ties trailing from their beaks, with a dragon leaping above waves below and a medallion representing the Moon Palace above, with silvery patina and some malachite encrustation, box.

Provenance: The Collection of Robert H. Ellsworth, New York, acquired in Hong Kong, 1988

Note: The imagery in the medallion represents the Moon Palace, which is occupied by a hare that pounds the Elixir of Immortality at the base of the osmanthus tree, and is also inhabited by Chang'e who stole the elixir from her husband Hou Yi. The toad represents the embodiment of Chang'e. An almost identical mirror is illustrated in Ancient Bronze Mirrors from the Shanghai Museum, Shanghai, 2005, no. 76, pp. 228-9. Another, slightly smaller mirror of this design, from the Donald H. Graham Jr. Collection, is illustrated by Toru Nakano, Bronze Mirrors from Ancient China, Hong Kong, 1994, pp. 248-9, no. 94 (M50), where the author suggests the birds are magpies, considered to be auspicious messengers of joy. Yet another similar example, but of circular form and omitting the cloud scrolls in the design, was illustrated by Suzanne E. Cahill, The Lloyd Cotsen Study Collection of Chinese Bronze Mirrors, vol. I, Los Angeles, 2009, pl. 118.

Christie's. THE COLLECTION OF ROBERT HATFIELD ELLSWORTH PART IV - CHINESE WORKS OF ART: METALWORK, SCULPTURE AND EARLY CERAMICS, 20 March 2015, New York, Rockefeller Plaza.