Lot 2032. A large silvery bronze circular mirror, Sui dynasty (581-618); 9½ in. (24.2 cm.) diam. Estimate USD 20,000 - USD 30,000. Price Realized USD 18,750. © Christie's Images Ltd 2014. 

The central knob rises from a ring of petals encircled by eight animals shown in different positions within a raised dogtooth border, and further encircled by a narrow inscription band and a band of various animals and birds racing counter-clockwise in the outer field below foliate scroll on the rim. There is ferrous encrustation on the reverse.

Provenance: Christie's London, 11 June 1990, lot 42.

Note: A similarly decorated mirror of the same size, dated Sui dynasty, is in the collection of the Sichuan Province Museum and is illustrated in Zhongguo qingtongqi quanji - Bronze Mirrors, vol. 16, Beijing, 1998, p. 111, no. 109. Another similar mirror in the Hakone Art Museum, Japan, also dated Sui dynasty, is illustrated in Mayuyama, Seventy Years, vol. 2, Tokyo, 1976, p. 51, no. 96.

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, New York, 20 - 21 March 2014