Page 66 - 2020 December 1 Bonhams Hong Kong, Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of art

Detail, Twelve Beauties at Leisure, painted for
Prince Yinzhen, the future Yongzheng emperor;
image courtesy of the Palace Museum, Beijing
北京故宮博物院藏 為雍親王作 《十二美人
圖》局部

138
AN IMPERIAL MOTHER-OF-PEARL-INLAID ZITAN CIRCULAR Traditional metal mirrors containing high levels of tin, with one side
FRAMED MIRROR polished for reflection and the other side cast with moulded archaistic
Qianlong designs, were no longer commonly used by the mid Qing period.
Imitating archaic bronze mirrors, the zitan disc embellished in mother- However, the Qianlong court appears to have sponsored the making of
of-pearl with four characters reading Qian qiu bao jian, ‘The Eternally mirrors in bronze and various other materials for Daoist rituals.
Treasured Mirror’, in seal script, reserved with roundels on a ground
densely carved with stylised dragons in low relief, all surrounding a Compare with a mirror of related form and design but cast in bronze
small raised knop decorated with mother-of-pearl, the knop pierced to included in the exhibition Splendors of China’s Forbidden City: The
suspend a tassel, the reverse mounted with a mirror, the finely-grained Glorious Reign of Emperor Qianlong, Chicago, 2004, no.189; and a
wood of a deep chestnut-brown tone, box. brass example, but lacking a reign mark, in the Victoria and Albert
21.3cm (8 3/8in) diam. (2). Museum, London, illustrated by R.Kerr, Later Chinese Bronzes,
London, 1990, pl.90. For a painting of a court lady holding a mirror of
HKD1,200,000 - 1,500,000 this type, see one from the set of twelve paintings ‘Twelve Beauties
US$150,000 - 190,000 at Leisure Painted for Prince Yuzhen’, the Future Yongzheng Emperor
(1709-23), published in China: The Three Emperors 1662-1795,
London, 2005, no.173.
清乾隆 紫檀嵌螺鈿手鏡
鏡背紫檀質，鏟地淺浮雕拐子螭龍紋四對，龍身打洼， 龍紋之間雕四
Provenance: 圓形平面，其上分別嵌「千秋寶鑒」四螺鈿篆字，鏡鈕紫檀圓柱，上
Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 8 April 2011, lot 2802 嵌螺鈿花紋，鏡身玻璃質。

來源： 「千秋寶鑒」實為唐代張九齡上書皇帝的《事鑒》，稱為《千秋寶鑒
蘇富比香港，2011年4月8日，拍品編號2802 錄》，後世多以此為書名，有以史為鑒之意。《新唐書》之《張九齡
傳》載：「千秋節，王公并獻寶鑒。九齡上《事鑒》十章，號「千秋
寶鑒錄」，以伸諷喻。」

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