A MINIATURE PARCEL-GILT SILVER-BACKED BRONZE HEXAFOIL MIRROR

TANG DYNASTY (618-907)

Details

A MINIATURE PARCEL-GILT SILVER-BACKED BRONZE HEXAFOIL MIRROR
TANG DYNASTY (618-907)
Of barbed outline, the back inlaid with a silver sheet chased in the center with a crouching animal knob from which issues two encircling leafy vines that support two lions and two birds within a lobed border, all gilded in contrast to the fine ring-punched silver ground, the bronze mirror with silvery grey patina and some malachite encrustation
2¼ in. (5.7 cm.) across, 3/16 in. (.4 cm.) thick, box
60.5g

Provenance

Robert H. Ellsworth Collection, New York, acquired in Hong Kong, 1990.

If you wish to view the condition report of this lot, please sign in to your account.

View condition report

Lot Essay

A similar mirror of comparable small size (6 cm.) is illustrated in Ancient Bronze Mirrors from the Shanghai Museum, Shanghai, 2005, pp. 236-7, no. 80; and two others of comparable size are illustrated in Luoyang chutu tongjing (Bronze Mirrors Excavated in Luoyang), Beijing, 1988, nos. 115 and 116. See, also, the similar mirror illustrated by T. Nakano et al., Bronze Mirrors from Ancient China: Donald H. Graham Jr. Collection, 1994, pp. 230-1, no. 85, where the authors note that the practice of decorating the backs of bronze mirrors with silver or gilt-silver sheet with repoussé decoration is first seen in the Sui dynasty, but was most popular in the mid-eighth century on lobed mirrors. Miniature mirrors such as this were probably portable and carried by noblewomen.

More from Luminous Perfection: Fine Chinese Mirrors from the Robert H. Ellsworth Collection

View All