A RARE JADE MIRROR-FORM PLAQUE AND A JADE BI

Details

A RARE JADE MIRROR-FORM PLAQUE AND A JADE BI
HAN DYNASTY

Well carved in imitation of a bronze mirror, with an inlaid central knop encircled by a band of animals running between four bosses, within narrow and wide saw-tooth bands and a plain outer border, reverse plain, the stone now calcified to an opaque mottled brownish buff color; the bi with comma spirals carved in low relief on one side and incised on the reverse, both fields within raised inner and outer borders, the stone now calcified and an opaque buff color--2 3/4 and 1 3/4 in. (7 and 4.5cm.) diam. (2)

Lot Essay

The jade mirror is similar in design to a bronze mirror with birds between the bosses and dated 3rd-4th century in the Charles B. Hoyt Collection, Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Memorial Exhibition Catalogue, 1952, no. 490, where a painted and burnished gray pottery mirror of earlier date is also illustrated, no. 17