Circular Mirror with Painted Decoration of Human Figures and Horses

A bronze mirror with similar cold-painted decoration of horses and figures against a bright red ground was excavated in 1963 from a Western Han tomb dated to the first century BCE at Hongmiaopo, Xi'an, Shaanxi province. For illustration see Zhongguo qingtongqi quanji [Compendium of Chinese Bronzes], vol. 16: Tongjing [Bronze mirrors] (Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, 1998), no. 44, pp. 43-44. Also illustrated in Imperial China: The Art of the Horse in Chinese History (Lexington, Ky.: Kentucky Horse Park, 2000), cat. no. 124.