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Lot Essay
The imagery depicted on this mirror represents the Moon Palace, which is occupied by a hare that pounds the Elixir of Immortality at the foot of the osmanthus tree, and is also inhabited by Chang'e who stole the elixir from her husband Hou Yi. The toad represents the embodiment of Chang'e.
A similar bronze mirror is illustrated by Wang Shilun and Wang Mu in Zhejiang chutu tongjing (Bronze Mirrors Excavated from Zhejiang), Beijing 2006, black and white pl. 117. Another bronze mirror of similar design, but of slightly larger size (13.8 cm.), is in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, acc. no. 25.24 (https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/61405). See, also, the bronze mirror with similar design, but in reverse, from The Springfield Museum, Springfield, Massachusetts, sold at Christie’s New York, 22 March 2013, lot 1151.
A similar bronze mirror is illustrated by Wang Shilun and Wang Mu in Zhejiang chutu tongjing (Bronze Mirrors Excavated from Zhejiang), Beijing 2006, black and white pl. 117. Another bronze mirror of similar design, but of slightly larger size (13.8 cm.), is in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, acc. no. 25.24 (https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/61405). See, also, the bronze mirror with similar design, but in reverse, from The Springfield Museum, Springfield, Massachusetts, sold at Christie’s New York, 22 March 2013, lot 1151.