Mirror with animal motifs and eight-character inscription

Accession Number
1974/1.168

Title
Mirror with animal motifs and eight-character inscription

Artist(s)
Chinese

Artist Nationality
Chinese (culture or style)

Medium & Support
cast bronze with malachite and silver patina

Dimensions
6 7/8 in. x 6 7/8 in. x 5/16 in. ( 17.5 cm x 17.5 cm x 0.8 cm )

Credit Line
The Oliver J. Todd Memorial Collection

Label copy
China has had mirrors since the late second millennium BCE. Traditional Chinese mirrors were in the form of bronze disks with a polished reflecting surface and relief decorations cast on the back, as seen in these four examples from a wide range of dynastic periods. A braided silk cord was passed through the knob at the center of the back that was used as a “handle” for the mirror. Variations in surface color or patina of these mirrors—from silvery to green to black – result from different ratios of copper and tin (the components of bronze) and burial conditions, as mirrors were personal accessories that customarily accompanied the deceased to the afterlife.
From Han times short inscriptions of a symbolic or auspicious nature also began to appear as decoration on the backs of bronze mirrors. Surrounding the large central knob of this mirror are stylized crouching tigers. Between them is an eight-character inscription that perfectly captures the aspirations of the scholarly class in Han-dynasty China: zhangyi zisun, junyi gaoguan , or “across many generations of sons and grandsons, may [your descendants] always attain high official positions.”
(Label for UMMA Chinese Gallery Opening Rotation, March 2009)

Physical Description
bronze mirrorr with two columns of auspicious inscriptions for career promotion and healthy offsprings in eight characters separated by the central knob, which is, in turn, surrounded by stylized mystical animal motif on both side.

Primary Object Classification
Metalwork

Primary Object Type
mirror

Additional Object Classification(s)
Decorative Arts

Collection Area
Asian

Rights
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Keywords
bronze (metal)
mirrors

& Author Notes

Web Use Permitted

On display

UMMA Gallery Location ➜ FFW, Mezzanine ➜ M06 (Shirley Chang Gallery of Chinese Art)