A BRONZE CIRCULAR MIRROR WITH DEITIES, ANIMALS AND INSCRIPTION

LATE EASTERN HAN DYNASTY, 2ND-3RD CENTURY

Details

A BRONZE CIRCULAR MIRROR WITH DEITIES, ANIMALS AND INSCRIPTION
LATE EASTERN HAN DYNASTY, 2ND-3RD CENTURY
Thinly cast, the knob within a bead band and a main field cast in thread relief with deities, one shown riding a dragon, one shown riding a tiger, and four seated figures shown in two groups, all separated by nipples and encircled by an inscription and hatchured, sawtooth and C-scroll bands
5½ in. (14 cm.) diam., 3/16 in. (.5 cm.) thick, box
295.3g

Provenance

Robert H. Ellsworth Collection, New York, acquired in Hong Kong, 1988.

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Lot Essay

Compare the similar mirror of larger size (21.2 cm.) illustrated in Ancient Bronze Mirrors from the Shanghai Museum, Shanghai, 2005, pp. 172-3, no. 49, in which the inscription includes the name of the family, Long, that made it. The entry also mentions that more than ten mirrors from the Long clan have been handed down from ancient times, most of them excavated at Shaoxing, Zhejiang province. Another mirror of this type with similar outer band on the rim, in the Sumitomo Museum, is illustrated in the exhibition catalogue, Chinese Bronze Mirrors, Sen-Oku Hakuko Kan, Kyoto, 8 January - 6 March 2011, p. 38, no. 60.

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