Lot 172. An inscribed Silvered Bronze Mirror, Sui-Tang Dynasty (581-907). 6 1/2 in., 16.5 cm. Estimate 7,000 — 10,000 USD. Lot sold 8,400 USD. Photo: Sotheby's.

the center set with a knob surrounded by six baoxiang hua floral roundels, further divided by six candelabra-shaped elements, enclosed on the outer border by an inscription written in regular script.

Note: Similar mirrors are illustrated in Circles of Reflection of Chinese Mirrors, The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2000, pl. 57, where the inscription is discussed; another illustrated Cheng Congwen, ed., Bronze Mirrors of the Tang Dynasties, Beijing, 1958, pl. 9; and a third in Bronze Mirrors From Ancient China: The Donald H. Graham Jr. Collection, 1994, fig. 53a.  Also compare one from the Vanotti Collection illustrated in Eskenazi, Catalogue,  June 1989, no. 34. 

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art, New York, 31 mars 2005