A STUDY COLLECTION OF CHINESE BRONZE MIRRORS. Tang – Ming. Comprising a Rui Shou mirror, early Tang, cast with four ferocious beasts galloping around a hemispherical central boss among wisps of clouds and flames, all enclosed by a band of birds and beasts, held together within a copper band, 12cm diameter; a silvery bronze octalobed mirror, Tang Dynasty, of kuihua shape, finely cast in relief with a pair of birds flanking the domed knob with a contorted dragon above and below, all within a circular border that forms the raised inner edge of the outer lobed band decorated with alternating birds and clouds, 13cm diameter; another decorated around the knob by indistinct animalistic decoration within borders of geometric designs, 8.5cm diameter, an inscribed dragon mirror, early Ming, Hongwu period, 1389, decorated with a dragon among scrolling clouds to the right of a panel inscribed Hongwu ershi’er nian zhengyue zao, 11cm diameter; a lion and grapevines mirror, Tang, crisply cast with a crouching-lion knop in the centre, surrounded by four lions gazing upwards, the concave border containing seated and flying birds also surrounded by fruiting grapevines, all within a decorative tri-foliate border, 9cm diameter; a small mirror with indistinct decoration, 7cm diameter; a twin carp mirror, Jin, cast in high relief with two carp swimming atop a ground of waves, their large twisting bodies filling almost the entire space surrounding the knob; a dragon and lotus flower mirror, Ming, 12cm diameter; a Zhaoming bronze mirror with rings of calligraphic inscriptions,11cm diameter; and a lion and grapevines mirror, worn, 17cm diameter. (10) Provenance: German private collection, acquired before 1940. 铜镜10件