Chinese Bronze Mirrors

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In terms of bronze items for daily use, the most are made up of bronze mirrors. They were used for quite a long time and there were many patterns. Most mirrors are round, some square and rectangular. The front surface is flat and is used to reflect faces, and the back surface has beautiful relief patterns. The button on the mirror’s center was used to link it with a band. The mirror could be held with hands or placed on the wall.

The appreciation of mirror art lies in the pattern design on the back surface. The craftsman had to create an artistic layout within the limited space.

Bronze mirrors emerged during the Qijia cultural period in Gansu and Qinghai provinces, and can be found in the Shang and Western Zhou dynasties. During the Warring States Period, bronze mirror culture reached a high level in terms of the casting process and pattern design. Some mirrors are large and similar to later dressing mirrors.

Qijia Culture

Qijia Culture refers to the culture in the upper reaches of the Yellow River when the stoneware and bronze ware coexisted at the same time. It was thus named because it was first discovered in Qijiaping, Guanghe, Gansu province in 1924. Dated 2000BC to 1900 BC, it was distributed along the banks of the Yellow River and its branches in Gansu and Qinghai provinces. The residents were engaged in farming and planting millet and other plants with the bone shovels, stone knifes and stone sickles. They bred pig, sheep, dog and cattle and horse. At the time, pottery industry was well developed and copper smelting industry also made its debut.

Most unearthed bronze mirrors produced during the Warring States Period were discovered in Chu culture areas, such as Hunan and Anhui. Bronze mirror craftsmen were able to create various patterns that were well organized and appropriate for round shapes by using pattern composition rules. Some designs are outlined with mountain shapes, diamond and leaf shapes and decorated with dense shading, and some designs only featured feather-or cloud-shape lines. The patterns are so dense and compact that they are like silk, which were verypopular at that time. Some mirrors are carved with dragons, phoenixes or other animals. The craftsmanship can be felt in every image design and combination.

Hollowing out, painting gold and silver, embedding kallaite and drawing color patterns were used to decorate bronze mirrors.A hunting-pattern, gold and silver-gild bronze mirror, which was produced during the Warring States Period, was unearthed in Jincun Village, Luoyang, Henan and transferred to Japan. The back surface is a monster growling, and the other side is an image of a knight fighting a tiger. The craftsman selected a pivotal moment of the furious fight. The knight jumps on horseback, and holds up the sword to thrust the tiger. The threatened tiger suddenly stands up on its hind legs, and growls, stretching its legs in defense. Thehorse is scared and steps backward. The artisan knew exactly how to capture the reactions of the knight, tiger and horse during the fight.

The Han Dynasty is the second climax of bronze mirror culture. Bronze mirrors became a necessary item in daily life and became a commodity in the Han Dynasty.

Warring States Period. Mirror with Dragon and Phoenix Designs Diameter 18.9cm. Excavated from tombs of the early Western Han in the south outskirts of Changsha, Hunan Province in 1954. Kept in Hunan Museum.

Bronze mirrors in the Western Han broke the design tradition of the Warring States Period and developed grass-leaf, star-cloud, sunlight, and Zhaoming mirrors. During the Xin Mang Period (9-23), four-immortal compass-rule mirrors were popular. The marks of T,I and V can be seen in the square frame outside the button base. The mirror surface is equally divided. After the Xin Mang Period, the four immortals and other beast relief models became lively, and lucky character inscriptions in different types and lengths became popular.A large square bronze mirror, which weighs more than 50kg, was discovered in the tomb of Liu Xiang, the King of the Qi Kingdom during the Western Han Dynasty, in Linzi, Shandong. The mirror is 100cm long and 50cm wide.

On the back of the mirror is a huge dragon design. This is the largest bronze mirror found so far in China.

Warring States Period. Mirror Inlaid with Gold and Silver Hunting Desin Diameter 17.5cm. Unearthed from Jincun. Luoyang.

Henan Province. Kept in the Eisei-Bunko Museum of Japan. The mitror face was made of cupronickel, while the back was made of bronze.

After the middle of the Easterm Han Dynasty, beast and portrait mirrors in relief form were manufactured in Shanyin (today’s Shaoxing, Zhejiang). These mirrors set a milestone in bronze mirror culture. Popular immortals’ portraits were carved on some mirrors, and servers, winged men, musicians and lucky animals accompanied the immortals to reflect fantasy scenes. Some portraits on the mirrors are of historical figures, such as ancient emperors, Boya(a respected Qin zither master player during the Spring and Autumn Period), and Wu Zixun(a senior official in the Wu Kingdom during the Spring and Autumn Period).

In the Han Dynasty, bronze mirror production centers spread all over the Central Plains and the northern and southern areas. The styles of the period in different places were almost identical, and the themes and representation methods were different between the Central Plains and the areas to the south of the Yangtze River.

Western Han. Bronze Mirror with Chariot, Horse and Persons Painted with Color Unearthed from Hongmiaopo, Xi’ an, Shaanxi Province in 1963. Kept in Xi’ an Cultural Relics Administration of Shaanxi.

In the late Northern and Southern Dynasties(420-589), Sui Dynasty (581-618), and Tang Dynasty (618-907), bronze mirrors that were mainly used in daily life experienced new cultural highs.