A RARE SILVERED BRONZE 'LIONS AND GRAPEVINES' MIRROR

A RARE SILVERED BRONZE 'LIONS AND GRAPEVINES' MIRROR, TANG
China, 618-907. Of circular form, the back cast in high relief in the center with a crouching lion knob encircled by four lions and scrolling grapevines, and in the outer field with eight birds amid similar vines and grape bunches below a band of floral designs.

Condition: Excellent condition with minor wear, few minuscule nicks here and there. Fine malachite-green patina.
Provenance: German private collection, acquired at Zen Gallery in Belgium on 12 November 1997. A certificate written and signed by A. Cnudde for Zen Gallery, attesting to the mirror's authenticity and dating, accompanies this lot.

Weight: 675.2 g
Dimensions: Diameter 12 cm

Literature comparison: Bronze Mirrors from Ancient China: Donald H. Graham Jr. Collection, 1994, nos. 74 and 77. Compare two very large examples (24 cm diam.) with similar decoration but with additional lions surrounding the knob in the Shanghai Museum, illustrated in Shanghai Bowuguan cang qingtong jing, Shanghai, 1987, pls. 84-85.

Auction result comparison: A closely related mirror was sold by Christie's Hong Kong in Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art on 30 May 2012, lot 4141, for HKD 87,500.

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