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Lot Essay
Several features of this Western Han dynasty mirror differentiate it from mirrors of Warring States date. It is thicker, has an outer border of joined arcs and has an inscription.
A very similar mirror, also with an inscription and an outer border of linked arcs, in the Lagrelius Collection is illustrated by B. Karlgren, "Huai and Han," BMFEA, Stockholm, 1990, No. 62, pl. 60 (F 31). Other related mirrors are also illustrated on pls. 51-53, but on all of these the details of the dragon decoration are raised rather than the flat surface of the dragons on the present and Lagrelius mirrors. See, also, the related mirror of this latter type excavated from Western Han tomb number 17 at Yanzizui, Changsha, Hunan province in 1955, which has a more ornate surround to the loop, illustrated in Zhongguo Qingtongqi Quanji - 16 - Bronze Mirrors, Beijing, 1998, no. 38.
A very similar mirror, also with an inscription and an outer border of linked arcs, in the Lagrelius Collection is illustrated by B. Karlgren, "Huai and Han," BMFEA, Stockholm, 1990, No. 62, pl. 60 (F 31). Other related mirrors are also illustrated on pls. 51-53, but on all of these the details of the dragon decoration are raised rather than the flat surface of the dragons on the present and Lagrelius mirrors. See, also, the related mirror of this latter type excavated from Western Han tomb number 17 at Yanzizui, Changsha, Hunan province in 1955, which has a more ornate surround to the loop, illustrated in Zhongguo Qingtongqi Quanji - 16 - Bronze Mirrors, Beijing, 1998, no. 38.