Lot 278. Two bronze circular mirrors, Western Han-Xin Dynasty. Estimate £4,000 - 6,000 (€5,000 - 7,600). Photo Bonhams.

he first with central knop within a squared border, encircled by eight nipples surrounded by 'TLV' motifs and 'The Guardians of the Four Directions' with their spirit companions, further encircled by an inscription within hatchured, saw tooth and stylised foliate borders, with dark grey patina; the second with the central knop within a four-petalled surround, encircled by plain and hatchured borders, enclosing a frieze bearing the Four Guardians and companions, with four smaller nipples.
The first 15.8cm (6.1/4in) diam; the second 16.5cm (6.1/2in) diam. (2).

The Professor R. Beaver Collection of Early Chinese Bronzes and Japanese Sword Fittings

Provenance: The 'TLV' mirror: Collection of D. David-Weill. Inventory number D-W.2565.1.
The 'animal frieze' mirror: Sotheby's London, 7 April 1981, lot 47.
Purchased Bluett & Sons Ltd. in 1981.

Exhibited: The 'TLV' mirror: Musée de L'Orangerie, 'Chinese Bronzes from the Tcheou, Ts'in and Han Dynasties', 1934, catalogue no. 52.
Sotheby's London, 29 February 1972, Lot 74.

Literature: The 'TLV' mirror: S. Umehara, Miroirs Chinois dans les Collections Europeens et Americains, pl. XXVIII.
S. Umehara, Shina kodo Seikwa, (Selected relics of Ancient Chinese bronzes from Collections in Europe and America), 1933, Vol.I, pl.64.

For a comparable group of mirrors dated to the Xin Dynasty, see Circles of Reflection: The Carter Collection of Chinese Bronze Mirrors, The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2000, pp.44-46, nos. 27-29.

For a related example see Circles of Reflection: The Carter Collection of Chinese Bronze Mirrors, The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2000, p. 40, no. 21.

Bonhams. AUCTION 23541: ASIAN ART, 10:30 BST - LONDON, KNIGHTSBRIDGE