Large (15 inches) floral scroll dish, 1403-1425 AD
Dragon Moon flask, 1736-1795 (20 inches tall)
Bronze dragon head finial, Han Dynasty or Six Dynasties Period, 206 BC to 589 AD
Figurine of a noblewoman, Han Dynasty, 12 inches tall
Striding dragon, gilt bronze, Tang Dynasty
Silvered bronze mirror with a rabbit doing – well, what?
Pounding something with a mortar and pestle, apparently. A toad watches.
So this lovely being must be Chang'e, the moon goddess, and that must be the rabbit who was the great friend of Chang'e and mixed the elixir of immortality for her when she ascended to the Moon Palace.
The rather late story that Chang'e (an old goddess) ascended from earth to the Moon Palace, there to live forever but with only a rabbit and a toad for company, inspired many poets of the Tang and later periods. Here, via wikipedia, is an example:
Now that a candle-shadow stands on the screen of carven marble
And the River of Heaven slants and the morning stars are low,
Are you sorry for having stolen the potion that has set you
Over purple seas and blue skies, to brood through the long nights?
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