A parcel-gilt bronze 'xiniu' mirror stand and an archaic bronze mirror the stand, Ming dynasty, the mirror, 12th - 14th century | 明 銅局部鎏金犀牛望月鏡架 及 十二至十四世紀銅龍紋鏡

Xiniu: Acquired at auction in Stuttgart, ca. 2002.

Mirror: Acquired at auction in Stuttgart, ca. 2003.

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犀牛 : 得自斯圖加特，約2002年

鏡 : 得自斯圖加特，約2003年

This mirror stand features a particularly graceful example of a mythical xiniu gazing up at the moon, accentuated by selective gilding to the face, neck, legs and back. This motif can be found on a range of Song dynasty artefacts from ceramics to textiles, including on a ‘Ding’ dish sold in our Hong Kong rooms 4th April 2017, lot 3216. Scholar Jan Wirgin traces the origins of the xiniu (‘hsi-niu’) to the Asian rhinoceros which, already largely extinct by the Song, inspired tales of a mythical bovine creature whose single curved horn is mirrored by the crescent moon and helps it communicate with the sky; see Jan Virgin, Sung Ceramic Designs, Stockholm, 1970, pp. 196-8. 

In the case of the present lot, the ‘moon’ in question is a bronze mirror featuring the mythical Ci Fei and his companions travelling along the restless waves of the Yangzi River, preparing to battle with the sea monsters before him. This scene, recorded in the Han dynasty compendium the Huainanzi, is accompanied by a seal script inscription reading Huang pi chang tian (‘Great and resplendent is heaven’). Compare two mirrors of identical design: one in the collection of the Yale University Art Gallery (acc. no. 1952.52.26); the other in the Cleveland Museum of Art (acc. no. 1995.376) where it is suggested that the design may be of Korean origin, distributed widely among the elites of the Goryeo period. 

A very similar stand, but with the xiniu facing to the left, is in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum (acc. no. M.737-1910) and illustrated on the cover of Rose Kerr, Later Chinese Bronzes, London, 1990, pl. 87. Compare also a similar, slightly larger stand sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 6th October 2015, lot 185 and again, with a different mirror, on 11th June 2021, lot 3101; and another related xiniu without a mirror stand sold at Bonhams London, 9th November 2017, lot 193.