Width: 4 inches, 10.1 cm

Bronze mirror with gold repoussé plaque

China, Tang dynasty, 618 – 906

A bronze mirror of nearly square shape, the corners indented.  The back is inset with a gold plaque, which is worked in repoussé technique.  The main decoration of the plaque consists of a pair of duck and a pair of long-tailed birds arranged around a central pierced boss in the form of a crouching lion.  The birds alternate with flowering plants.  The background of the design is formed by a very fine ring-punched design. The rim and the plain surface of the mirror’s front are partly covered in thick malachite encrustation.

Bronze mirrors inset with thin gold or silver plaques were introduced in the Tang dynasty, without doubt the most important period in the development of Chinese gold and silver manufacture.  During the Tang dynasty foreign influences, particularly those from the West, became widely accepted and reflected in the arts. This is evident in the decoration of the gold plaque on this exquisite small bronze mirror, which has more Western traits rather than Chinese. A very similar, foliate bronze mirror with inlaid gold plaque decorated with birds and dated to the second half of the 7th century to the first half of the 8th century, is in the collection of Dr. Pierre Uldry.[1]   Compare also a lobed bronze and gold mirror, dated to the Tang dynasty, in the Mengdiexuan collection.[2]

Provenance:
The collection of Dr Frank Gabrin, East Orange, New Jersey, USA.

1    Uldy, P. Chinesiches Gold und Silber, Die Sammlung Pierre Uldry, Museum Rietberg, Zürich, 1994, cat no. 190, p. 190.
2    White, J.M. and Bunker, E.C. Adornment for Eternity, Status and Rank in Chinese Ornament, Denver Art Museum, 1994, no. 55F, pp. 140 + 141

唐/巩县窑蓝彩鼓钉釜

此釜总体呈双耳提篮状,内外施大面积蓝釉,仅双耳施黄釉。周身饰以白色鼓钉,圆底,胎质细腻。釜常见于巩县窑瓷器中,为唐代茶事中烹水所用。此釜形制在唐代巩县窑所产的茶釜中较为少见,其器身较之多数巩县茶釜更为挺拔。