AN UNUSUAL SILVERY BRONZE CIRCULAR MIRROR WITH PARROTS

MID LIAO DYNASTY, 10TH-11TH CENTURY

Details

AN UNUSUAL SILVERY BRONZE CIRCULAR MIRROR WITH PARROTS
MID LIAO DYNASTY, 10TH-11TH CENTURY
Softly cast in low relief with two long-tailed parrots grasping flower stems in their beaks as they fly around the knob which forms the center of a flower head, with azurite and malachite encrustation
10¼ in. (26.1 cm.) diam., 1/8 in. (.4 cm.) thick, box
1091.6g

Provenance

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

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Lot Essay

Two mirrors of this type cast in a similar manner with phoenixes rather than parrots depicted flying amidst clouds around a similar knob-centered flower head are illustrated in Liaodai Tongjing Yanjiu (Study of Mirrors of Liao Dynasty), pp. 124-5, fig. 131, excavated at Xidayingzi, Chaoyang county, Liaoning province, and figs. 132 A & B, excavated at Wuzhangzi, Shengli village, Chaoyang county, Liaoning province.

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