Page 64 - Christies September 13 to 14th Fine Chinese Works of Art New York

ANOTHER PROPERTY PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE MASSACHUSETTS COLLECTION
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A GILT-BRONZE ‘DRAGON’ FITTING A BRONZE ‘TLV’ MIRROR
HAN DYNASTY (206 BC–AD 220) EASTERN HAN DYNASTY (AD 25-220)
The central knob rises from a quatrefoil motif within a square cast in high
The hollow ftting is cast at one end with an elongated ferocious dragon
relief with twelve raised bosses separating the characters of an inscription.
head with open mouth, fared nostrils and long horns, with fne hair markings
The outer feld is decorated with a ‘TLV’ pattern, eight bosses and various
on the mane and brows and a scale pattern on the neck. Two small tabs
celestial animals within narrow bands enclosing an inscription and hatchured
extend from the edge at the opposite end.
lines, all below a dogtooth border and a band of clouds.
5æ in. (14.6 cm.) long, stand
6√ in. (17.6 cm.) diam., cloth box
$6,000-8,000
$3,000-5,000
PROVENANCE
Acquired in Hong Kong before 1998. PROVENANCE
Acquired in Pennsylvania, 2 April 1987.
漢 鎏金青銅龍首
A silvery bronze mirror cast with similar decoration is in the Donald H.
Graham Jr. Collection, illustrated by Toru Nakano, Bronze Mirrors from
Ancient China, Hong Kong, 1994, pp. 140-41, where the author describes
the design as a Han dynasty representation of the universe.
東漢 青銅規矩鏡

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