AN UNUSUAL BRONZE OCTAFOIL MIRROR WITH CI FEI

SONG DYNASTY (960-1279)

Details

AN UNUSUAL BRONZE OCTAFOIL MIRROR WITH CI FEI
SONG DYNASTY (960-1279)
Of barbed petal outline, the knob surrounded by a crisply cast narrative scene of a ship carrying passengers, one of whom, Ci Fei, the Dragon Slayer, raises a sword to battle a dragon in their wake while ahead of the ship the head of a whale emerges from the waves of the wind-tossed sea where other creatures can be seen, with a large inscription in seal script, huangpi changtian (Great and resplendent is the heaven), cast above the ship
7 in. (18 cm.) across, ¼ in. (.5 cm.) thick, box
748.2g

Provenance

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

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Lot Essay

The scene on this mirror and others like it is thought to represent the story of Ci Fei, the Dragon Slayer, and his heroic feats as narrated in Liu An's Han dynasty work, Huai'nan Zi. A very similar mirror of slightly smaller size (16.5 cm.), dated to the Southern Song dynasty, is illustrated in Ancient Bronze Mirrors from the Shanghai Museum, Shanghai, 2005, pp. 320-1, no. 121. Another of comparable size is illustrated by Ju-hsi Chou in Circles of Reflection: The Carter Collection of Chinese Bronze Mirrors, The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2000, p. 85, no. 80. The author notes that mirrors of this type are of northern provenance, and spread to the northeast and Korea. See, also, the similar example illustrated by T. Nakano et al., Bronze Mirrors from Ancient China: Donald H. Graham Jr. Collection, 1994, pp. 274-5, no. 107, where it is dated Song dynasty.

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