Page 150 - Christies Asia Week 2015 Chinese Works of Art

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A SILVERY BRONZE ‘TLV’ CIRCULAR MIRROR A BRONZE RITUAL WINE VESSEL, LEI
EASTERN HAN DYNASTY (AD 25-220) EARLY SPRING AND AUTUMN PERIOD, 8TH CENTURY BC

The central knob is within a square band of twelve nipples alternating The jar is cast with three registers of different types of interlaced
with the characters of the Twelve Branches, surrounded by ‘TLV’ dragons incorporating bosses, those in the narrow middle register in
motifs and eight nipples, the Guardians of the Four Directions (Blue the shape of S-shaped serpents, and has a pair of dragon-mask, loop
Dragon, Red Bird, White Tiger and the Dark Warrior), as well handles with suspended loose rings on the shoulder below the reel-
as other animals, birds and pixie, all encircled by an inscription, a shaped neck that rises to a fared mouth. The surface has a mottled
hatchured border, and sawtooth bands on the raised rim. There are patina and malachite encrustation.
areas of malachite and ferrous encrustation. 12 in. (30.5 cm.) high
6Ω in. (16.5 cm.) diam., Japanese wood box
578 g $40,000-60,000

$8,000-12,000 PROVENANCE:

PROVENANCE: Acquired in Hong Kong, 1998.

Acquired in Hong Kong, 1985. LITERATURE:
東漢 青銅「作佳鏡」銘規矩鏡
E & J Frankel, Wine and Spirits of the Ancestors, New York, 2001, pp.
148 44-5, no. 3.

A bronze lei of slightly smaller size (29.3), but of similar shape and with
similar decoration of interlaced dragons arranged in horizontal registers, is
illustrated by J. So, Eastern Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler
Collections, Arthur M. Sackler Foundation, 1995, pp. 202-3, no. 30, where
it is dated Eastern Zhou: early Spring and Autumn Period, 8th century BC.
Also illustrated, p. 208, fg. 31.1, is a bronze lei of smaller size (27.6 cm.)
in the Worcester Art Museum with similar cast decoration of interlaced
dragons.

春秋早期 青銅蟠虺紋罍