Lot 1413. A bronze circular 'Dragon and Arc' mirror, Late Warring States Period-Early Western Han dynasty, circa 3rd century BC. Estimate USD 4,000 - USD 6,000. Price realised USD 3,500. © Christie's Images Ltd 2012.

Thinly cast, the back with a central loop encircled by a patterned band and a plain concave band, the main field with three dragons with scrolling bodies and long tails reserved on a patterned ground of lozenges filled with scrolls and granulation within the twelve arcs of the scalloped-edged outer border - 4¾ in. (11.9 cm.) diam., 1/16 in. (.2 cm.) thick, box - 125.4g 

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

Note: A similar mirror excavated in the central plains of China is illustrated in Ancient Bronze Mirrors from the Shanghai Museum, Shanghai, 2005, pp. 98-9, no. 14, where it is noted that similar three-dragon pattern mirrors have been found in Jin Village, Luoyang, Henan province. Another in the Sumitomo Collection is illustrated in the exhibition catalogue, Chinese Bronze Mirrors, Sen-Oku Hakuko Kan, Kyoto, 8 January - 6 March 2011, no. 15. See, also, the two similar mirrors illustrated by B. Karlgren, "Huai and Han," BMFEA, Stockholm, 1941, No. 13, pl. 28 (D14) and pl. 29 (D 15) from the Hosokawa Collection.  

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