Lot 1402. An unusual bronze circular 'zigzag'-pattern mirror, late Warring States period, 4th-3rd century BC. Estimate USD 10,000 - USD 15,000. Price realised USD 20,000 © Christie's Images Ltd 2012.

Thinly cast, the back centered by a small ribbed loop flanked either side by parallel bands of zigzag or 'lightning' pattern reserved on a ground of hooked feather-like scrolls and granulation arranged in rectangles, all within a plain outer border cast with a thin bow-string band - 6 3/8 in. (16.1 cm.) diam., ¼ in. (.5 cm.) thick, box - 280.4g 

Provenance: Robert H. Ellsworth Collection, New York, acquired from Edna Bahr, Connecticut, 1960s. 

Note: A similar mirror of slightly smaller size (13 cm.) excavated in 1980 in Hunan province is illustrated in Zhongguo Qingtongqi Quanji - 16 - Bronze Mirrors, Beijing, 1998, p. 28, no. 28. A rubbing of another similar mirror excavated at Heshanmiao, Yiyang city, Hunan province, is illustrated by Gao Zhixi, "On the Bronze Mirrors of Chu State," Wenwu 1991:5, p. 47, fig. 20, and also by D.M. O'Donoghue, "Reflection and Reception: The Origins of the Mirror in Bronze Age China," BMFEA, Stockholm, 1990, No. 62, p. 175, fig. 76, where it is discussed, p. 97.  

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