Lot 1420. A bronze circular mirror with animals, Western Han dynasty (206 BC-AD 8). Estimate USD 6,000 - USD 8,000. Price realised USD 5,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2012.
Crisply cast, the knob rising from a quatrefoil with crescents between, within a plain band and a band cast in thread relief with two dragons, one with a wang character, alternating with two tigers, all racing between four nipples between hatchured borders below a plain rim - 5½ in. (14 cm.) diam., ¼ in. (.5 cm.) thick, box - 540.2g
Provenance: Robert H. Ellsworth Collection, New York, acquired in Hong Kong, 1992.
Notes: A similar mirror of comparable size is illustrated by Ju-hsi Chou in Circles of Reflection: The Carter Collection of Chinese Bronze Mirrors, The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1990, p. 40, no. 21. Another similar mirror excavated from a later tomb of Southern Dynasties date (420-589) is illustrated in "Guangxi: Rongan Anning Nanchao Tomb Excavation Report," Kaogu 1984:7, p. 631, fig. 5.
Christie's. Luminous Perfection: Fine Chinese Mirrors from the Robert H. Ellsworth Collection, 22 March 2012, New York, Rockefeller Center
