1-233-774 - The Museum of East Asian Art/Heritage Images

Bronze mirror with dragon and phoenix design, early Six Dynasties period, China, mid 3rd century. A bronze mirror from the Kingdom of Wu, with a large flat boss cast in low relief with a thin outer band of dragons and flying spirit figures between line borders, the broad inner band bordered with semi-circles enclosing dragons, apsara with halo, phoenixes and tigers. The boss handle is imposed on a quatrefoil pattern enclosing fabulous animals separating four pairs of phoenixes holding up a standard in the broad band. The inclusion of an apsara with a halo, a Buddhist motif, at this early period marks this as one of the earliest objects with Buddhist related decoration.