AN UNUSUAL BRONZE CIRCULAR 'ZIGZAG'-PATTERN MIRROR

LATE WARRING STATES PERIOD, 4TH-3RD CENTURY BC

Details

AN UNUSUAL BRONZE CIRCULAR 'ZIGZAG'-PATTERN MIRROR
LATE WARRING STATES PERIOD, 4TH-3RD CENTURY BC
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 in Hong Kong, 1960s.

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Lot Essay

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.

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