Lot 864. A rare gilded bronze mirror, Late Eastern Han-Three Kingdoms period, late 2nd-3rd century BC; 5½ in. (14 cm.) diam. Estimate USD 20,000 - USD 30,000. Price realised USD 74,500. © Christie's Images Ltd 2010.

The large knob surrounded by deities and mythical beasts within a border of half circles with whorl motifs and squares enclosing four characters, below a dogtooth band, a band of racing dragons, birds, animals, deities and a chariot, and an outer band of scroll pattern, all gilded, the reverse with shiny black (heiqigu) patina and some encrustation, box.

Provenance: Acquired in Hong Kong, 1989.

Exhibited: The Glorious Traditions of Chinese Bronzes, Singapore, 2000, no. 101.
Metal, Wood, Water, Fire and Earth, Hong Kong Museum of Art, 2002-2006. 

Note: The gilding on this mirror is quite unusual, although it is found on others of this type. A mirror similar both in size and decoration, excavated at Shaoxing in Zhejiang province, is illustrated by Wang Shilun, Bronze Mirrors Unearthed in Zhejiang, Beijing, 1987, pl. 56. The Shanghai Museum has several mirrors of this type including one also excavated in Shaoxing, of somewhat larger size (17.7 cm.), illustrated in Ancient Bronze Mirrors in the Shanghai Museum, Shanghai, 2005, no. 60, and another similarly gilded example of the same size (14.1 cm.) as the present mirror, no. 62. Also, like the present mirror, there are circular cells for inlay. The outermost scroll border on the present mirror, however, is different from that seen on the aforementioned examples.  

Christie's. The Sze Yuan Tang Archaic Bronzes from the Anthony Hardy Collection, New York, 16 September 2010.