A BRONZE TANTRIC MIRROR

Description:

Tibet, ca. 18th c.
D. 8,9 cm
A thousand-armed Guanyin on a double lotus surrounded by a mantra in Chinese characters and on the back of the mantra in Manchu script in a bold border in sunken relief in the centre.
German private collection, collected before 2007
This well-known type of mirror, a religiousöcult object, can be found in several collections, for example in the Palace Museum Beijing, illus. in: Guo Yuhao, Gugong cang jing (Mirrors in the Gugong Collection), Beijing 1996, no. 176; in the National Museum of History in Taipei, illustrated in: Ancient Chinese Bronzes, National Museum of History, Taipei, no. 92 - Somewhat rubbed, small traces of age