拍品 161
161
A RARE LARGE FINELY-CAST BRONZE MIRROR
VARIOUS PROPERTIES
A RARE LARGE FINELY-CAST BRONZE MIRROR

SUI/EARLY TANG DYNASTY, 6TH-7TH CENTURY

細節
A RARE LARGE FINELY-CAST BRONZE MIRROR
SUI/EARLY TANG DYNASTY, 6TH-7TH CENTURY
Finely cast with eight leonine beasts in various positions encircling the large central knob, all within a narrow border containing a lengthy inscription in clerical script, encircled by a band of running animals arranged in groups of three, each group separated by a stylized bird motif, all below a narrow band of classic scroll on the canted rim, with an attractive silvery patina with patches of blue-green encrustation
9½ in. (24 cm.) diam., box

拍品專文

The poetic inscription uses various metaphors alluding to the idea of purity of mind and spirit and conveys a wish for such virtue to be passed on to future generations.

A similarly decorated mirror of the same size, dated Sui dynasty, is in the collection of the Sichuan Province Museum and is illustrated in Zhongguo qingtongqi quanji - Bronze Mirrors, vol. 16, Beijing, 1998, p. 111, no. 109. The present mirror appears to have a more silvery patina than the Sichuan Museum example. Another similar mirror in the Hakone Art Museum, Japan, also dated Sui dynasty, is illustrated in Mayuyama, Seventy Years, vol. 2, Tokyo, 1976, p. 51, no. 96.