Of elliptical section, one side cast in relief with a foliate motif in an upper panel above two flower heads in panels below, with a small suspension loop on top, the exterior and inner clapper gilded; together with a miniature bronze hexafoil mirror, Tang dynasty, of barbed outline and inlaid with a parcel-gilt silver sheet chased with two birds alternating with two lions amidst grapevine surrounding the central knob formed as a crouching animal, all within a slender raised border of conforming outline and reserved on a fine ring-punched ground.

ProvenanceBoth: J.T. Tai & Co., New York, prior to 1977.

ExhibitedBell: Early Chinese Miniatures, China Institute in America, New York, 16 March - 29 May 1977, no. 184.

NoteA very similar miniature mirror of comparable size (5.7 cm. across) is illustrated in Mayuyama, Seventy Years, vol. 1, Tokyo, 1976, p. 52, no. 100. 

Christie's. Property from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, 24 March 2011, New York, Rockefeller Plaza