Lobed Mirror with Relief Decoration of Rong Qiqi and Confucius and with an Explanatory Inscription
8th century
Description
This eight-lobed circular mirror has a relatively narrow, undecorated rim. The decorative field is wide, circular and lightly sunken. Two figures appear -- Confucius on left and Rong Qiqi on right --with a hemispherical knob in between. Below the knob (at the six-o'clock position) is a willow tree. At the top, in a horizontally oriented rectangular cartouche, there is an inscription of nine characters, three characters arranged in each column: Rong Qiqi / Wen Yue Hui / Kong Fuzi [Rong Qiqi was questioned by and replied to Confucius]. On the reflecting side of the mirror there are localized areas of relatively thick patina, in which there are both pseudomorphs and actual silk fragments.
Dimensions
Diam. 12.9 cm (5 1/16 in.)
Provenance
Edmund Lin (1928-2006; Professor, Harvard Medical School), Boston; by bequest to the Harvard Art Museum
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