Water-caltrop-flower-shaped Bronze Mirror with Polo-playing Patterns

Excavated in a construction site of Jinwanba village, Tai’an town, Hanjiang county of Yangzhou city in 1965, this bronze mirror in the shape of a water caltrop flower features four polo players on horseback holding polo bats in hand chasing the ball. The floral and mountain patterns between the players and the ball indicate that this is a game played in the wild.
As a game originated in Persia, polo was introduced to China during the Han dynasty (202 BC-220 AD), and gained popularity in the Tang dynasty (6018-907 AD), especially from nobilities and emperors, thus becoming a common theme of decoration on bronze mirrors. Among the only three existing polo-themed bronze mirrors, with the rest two housed by the Palace Museum in Beijing and Huaining County Museum of Anhui province, this piece unearthed in Yangzhou is the most well-preserved one and therefore seen as of the top grade among all Tang-dynasty mirrors.