Lot 153. A large bronze 'Rhinoceros' mirror, Tang dynasty (618-907). Estimate 15,000 — 25,000 USD. Photo Sotheby's.

of circular form, cast in relief with two confronted rhinoceros, each similarly depicted standing in profile, with long raised ears, distinctive curving horn and thick, folding, dimpled hide, amidst flowering plants, birds and insects above gently swirling water, a trellis fence encircling a small grove of leafing trees at the top, all centered by a plain central knop and within a raised undecorated rim, the patina of dark-gray. Diameter 9 1/8  in., 23.2 cm

Provenance: Robert Beck Gallery, San Anselmo, California, 1970.
Charles Bromwell (1936-2005), San Francisco, California.

Notes: Tang dynasty depictions of rhinoceros are rare. The present composition is the only one known to feature on a mirror the famed creature which by the 8th century had attained near-mythological status.

There appear to be two variations of these mirrors; examples with birds to either side of the large leafy trees and examples without. Those with birds, and closest to the present example, include one in the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto illustrated in Sueji Umehara, Shina-Koda Seikwa, Ancient Mirrors, part II, vol. II, Osaka, 1933, pl. 148.; and another in Cheng Congwen, ed. Bronze Mirrors of Tang and Song Dynasties, Beijing, 1958, pl. 24. An example without the flying birds is in the Palace Museum and illustrated in The Palace Museum's Collections of Bronze Mirrors, Beijing, 2008, pl. 35 and another of this type from the collection of Robert H. Ellsworth was sold in Christie's New York, 22nd March 2012, lot 1450.

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art, New York, 13 sept. 2016, 10:30 AM