TANG DYNASTY (618-907)

This mirror and others like it are unusual among mirrors of the Tang dynasty, as the decoration and the way in which it is flat-cast is not typical of Tang mirrors, but inspired by Warring States decoration. Based on excavated examples, such as the very similar mirror found at Beiyao tomb no. 3 in Luoyang, Henan province, and dated ca. mid-eighth century, which is illustrated in Luoyang chutu tongjing, Beijing, 1988, pl. 93, these mirrors are dated to the Tang dynasty. See, also, the similar mirror illustrated by Ju-hsi Chou in Circles of Reflection: The Carter Collection of Bronze Mirrors, The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2000, p. 79, no. 73; and another from the Sze Yuan Tang Collection sold in these rooms, 16 September 2010, lot 912.