At the fair, the villager had already purchased all those things important to him when, looking up, he saw a full, bright moon hanging in the sky.
Trying subsequently to remember just what it was he was to buy for his wife, he visited every store in town. Finally, he came across an object strange to him—a round mirror, bright and clear as the moon in the sky.
He bought it at once. When the villager, returning home, excitedly handed the mirror to his wife, the good woman was overcome on seeing a female face looking out at her. She began to cry unrestrainedly, wailing among her tears that her husband had brought home a concubine.
The startled mother-in-law, taking the mirror over, seeing an old woman pictured there, assailed her son: "If you must take a fancy to a concubine, you should pick a much younger one!"
The old father-in-law then appropriated the strange mirror and immediately snorted: "What is all this about a concubine? He brought home a hired hand." Then he added, "But, son, why didn't you hire a younger and stronger fella instead of this old man!"
The humorous disturbances in this popular old Chinese tale clearly arose because the people involved had never seen their own faces before. In such ancient times, when mirrors were rare, people might have looked at themselves a bit in the twinkling waters of lakes or rivers, or, at best, in a household container of water. Obviously, though, the first mirrors had great impact. Their origins are intriguing.
Among the early Chinese inscriptions on oracle bones and tortoise shells from the Shang Dynasty (16th-11th Century B.C.), no single character appears to anticipate the present Chinese word for mirror: 鏡. However, there is this character: 監, which has since evolved into: 監 (meaning "look").
Experts on Chinese pictographic characters say that the ancient oracle-bone character, 監, appears to be a clear representation of a man (at right) looking into a container at his own image, and that this suggests the stage, in China, before the emergence of the mirror.
The water container depicted is not specified—that is, it could be any kind of container as long as it produced a reflected image. If we add to the character chien (監), the radical for chin (金, metal), then the combined character, also pronounced chien (鑑), signifies a special container usually distinguished by two or four animal-shaped metal ears, that was used in ancient times to hold water or chipped ice.
Probably later, by chance, people discovered that even without water, the shiny metal bottoms of some chiens would also reflect their images. Thereby evolved a polished separate piece of bronze to serve the same purpose, and finally, deliberately crafted bronze mirrors.
Most chien were of large size, and some, reportedly, so large that three or four people could take a bath in one together. Indeed, in Chuang Tzu, a work of more than 100,000 words, mostly fables, by Chuang Chou, a Taoist contemporary of Mencius, it is alleged that "Duke Ling had three wives with whom he would bathe in the same chien."
However, no extant chien is as large as the Duke's.
The chien apparently emerged during the spans of the Spring and Autumn Epoch (770-476 B.C.) and the Period of Warring States (475-221 B.C.). The earliest chien, to the best of our knowledge, is the one known as the Kung Wu Wang Fuchai Chien (a metal vessel bearing inscriptions and designs concerning the military campaigns of King Kouchien), cast during the Spring and Autumn Epoch. An inside-surface inscription of thirteen characters, in three lines, proclaims: "To commemorate the victory over King Fuchai of Wu State, I selected the best bronze alloy for the creation of this Imperial chien."
The inscription Kung Wu Wang Fuchai Chien includes the character chien in combination with the radical chin (for metal). The remaining words of the inscription merely indicate that the object is inscribed.
However, chien as inscribed on tortoise shells from Shang Dynasty ruins (excavated in Honan Province in the 19th Century) is not a compound noun but a verb, meaning to look into a "mirror"; by the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Period, chien had become a noun.
The bronze mirror was often used in Chinese literary or historical works as a metaphor for human affairs. The Biography of Ku Yung (a chapter in the History of the Han Dynasty, prepared under the supervision of Pan Ku during the latter half of the Dynasty, 206-220 A.D,) quotes Ku Yung: "I hope that Your Majesty will learn from the mistakes made during the old Hsia, Shang, Chou, and Chin Dynasties. They offer mirrors for one's conduct. If my counsel is wrong, I beg to be punished for audacity."
Emperor Taitzung of the Tang Dynasty (618-907) is often quoted admonishing his ministers: "With a bronze mirror, we can observe our appearance. And if we take the past as our mirror, we can learn about the rise and fall of empires.
"If we use people as mirrors, we will discern what is right and wrong.
"Since I have always possessed these three kinds of mirrors, I have been able to know my faults. But now that Wei Cheng is dead, I have lost one of my mirrors. That is why I have wept for so long a time...."
In recent exhibition at the National Palace Museum in Taipei, 160 ancient and choice bronze mirrors were displayed, attracting thousands of domestic and foreign visitors.
More than half of the total 393 ancient mirrors in the museum's collection are from the old Ching Dynasty Court collection, some of whose pieces are encased in book-style wooden mirror caskets: When such a casket is opened, the "page" on the right side presents, via several round holes, a group of mirrors, face up. A soft cushion of yellow silk fabric between the wooden backing and the mirrors protects the beautiful decorations on the reverse surfaces of the mirrors.
The wooden holders are, themselves, carved in elegant patterns. The left-bookleaves present calligraphic works and paintings of court artists, or Ta Hsueh Shih (a rank-equivalent to a prime minister), and also of such Imperial clansmen as Yung Rung, sixth son of Emperor Chienlung (1736-1795).
According to Chu Jen-hsing, an expert in the Bronze Section of the National Palace Museum, Ning Shou Ku Chien, Hsi Ching Ku Chien, and Hsi Ching Hsu Chien are the designations of the mirror-caskets holding the precious bronze mirrors collected by Emperor Chienlung. A great deal of information on each bronze mirror is furnished in these caskets—on shapes, sizes, decor, inscriptions, and dates of excavation.
No one knows the first Chinese mirror inventor, but legends aver: "One day, the Yellow Emperor (2697-2597 B.C.) traveled to the Kunlun Mountains to visit a goddess, the Grand Old Lady of the West. He made twelve mirrors there, and later used one for each of the twelve months."
The most authoritative archaeological research indicates that the five oldest Chinese bronze mirrors known to date were made more than three thousand years ago, during the Yin Dynasty (or the latter period of the Shang Dynasty, 16th-11th Century B.C.). The first of the five was unearthed in 1934 from Yin Dynasty ruins in Anyang County, Honan Province, and its appearance created a sensation at the time. The remaining four Yin mirrors were excavated in 1976 from the tomb of Fuhao (believed to be later-Shang King Wuting's concubine) near the same site.
King Wuting reigned from 1238 B.C. to 1180 B.C.; the tomb of concubine Fuhao is the first among the Yin Dynasty ruins to be identified with a known person. Since the tomb had not been disturbed before it was opened, discovery of the mirrors within certified to their being the earliest Chinese bronze mirrors known, and dating from the Shang rather than the Han Dynasty.
Almost all extant bronze mirrors are round; only a very few are in squared or other shapes. There may be a relationship in this to the ancient Chinese concept of the sky as round and the earth as square...and man as coordinator of heaven and earth: "When the light, which comes from heaven, falls upon the mirror, man can view himself and examine his true character."
The National Palace Museum's Chu Jen-hsing adds that the round shape might derive more directly from an ancient Chinese wedding custom: A round mirror was an indispensable article in the bride's trousseau since the Chinese people, for several thousand years, have identified the shape as a symbol of smoothness and harmony in life.
The fourth section of the painting Nu Shih Chen Tu (Admonitions of the Court Instructress), by the famous Tsin Dynasty master Ku Kai-chih (345-411 A.D.) and now in the collection of the British Museum, depicts two elegantly-clad court ladies primping before two bronze mirrors, one on a stand, complete with satin ribbon decorations and caskets.
The bronze mirror had at least three functions. First of all, it was an art piece, designed to appeal to fancy. Accordingly, the back surface was usually beautifully decorated and meaningfully inscribed.
The frequently used phrase, "the art of the Chinese bronze mirror," actually refers to the decor on its back surface and its significance in the panorama of Chinese art. The designs on these mirrors backs can be unique and complicated, and often elegant and exquisite.
The earliest Chinese (later Shang Dynasty) bronze mirrors were strictly functionally designed, that is to say, on the back of such a mirror there is only a small knob, no inscription or decoration at all.
Since it was also a symbol of social status, not only the pattern and inscription received special attention, but the later mirrors might also be created of a special copper-nickel alloy, which was the most valued.
Additionally, in ancient times, the mirror was among the articles to be buried with the dead—the belief being that it could ward off evil spirits. In an ancient tomb in Shenyang (Mukden), capital of Liaoning Province, on the remains of a male, six bronze mirrors were placed at equal distances from head to feet.
During the Spring and Autumn Epoch, the States of Wu and Yueh were copper producing centers. Later, they were swallowed up by the Chu State, which proceeded to produce quantities of bronze mirrors—the so-called Chu style mirrors.
Tso Chuan (a commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals authored by Tso Chiu-ming of the Chou Dynasty, 11th-3rd Century B.C.) records that in the tenth reigning year of Duke Hsi of the Lu State, the Chu State presented a bronze mirror as a gift to the Cheng State in furtherance of diplomatic relations.
Not until the middle Chou Dynasty, during the Spring and Autumn Epoch, did bronze mirrors, becoming available in quantity, come into wide use, stimulating craftsmanship. The Kaokung chapter in Rituals of the Chou Dynasty notes: "The chien (mirror), is made from a mixture of brass and tin...."
When tin is added to copper, a harder alloy is achieved which takes a fine polish: according to an inscription on a Han mirror, "Han Dynasty Tanyang is famous for its copper production. When this metal is mixed with silver and tin, it becomes clear and bright."
However, in the early process of blending the three metals, many bubbles emerged, flawing the surfaces of mirrors and other objects. The ancients found that the addition of a small amount of lead would remedy the defect and, as a bonus, assist the bronze decor on the back of the mirror to keep its shape.
The extant Chinese bronze mirrors are categorized into the pre-Han, the Han (206 B.C.-220 A.D.), the Sui (581-618) and Tang (618-960), and mirrors from the Sung Dynasty (960-1279) onward.
The earliest, pre-Han, category—before the Western Han Dynasty (206 B.C.-25 A.D.)—includes mirrors from the Shang, Chou, Warring States, and Chin periods. According to A Study of Pre-Han Mirrors by Liang Shang-chun, two specimens are mentioned in such ancient Chinese documents on mirrors as Sung Kuan and Po Ku Tu. One of these mirrors, described as in the "Six Flowers Floating on Water" style, is actually from the Warring States Period and should be designated, "With Six Bow-Shaped Designs."
The other is identified in the ancient documents as "A Tang Dynasty mirror bearing a Taotieh (a voracious mythical animal) image." Actually, it is a Chin Dynasty (221-207 B.C.) creation and should be identified as a "Mirror decorated with coiled dragons."
So, as far along as the Sung Dynasty, there is evidence that pre-Han mirrors were discovered; only they were taken, at the time, for works of the Han and Tang Dynasties.
The animal-shaped principal motifs of pre-Han mirror decor are often also found on bronze ceremonial vessels and other items of the Shang and Chou Dynasties and the Warring States Period.
Most pre-Han mirrors were excavated in the Huai River Valley and at Loyang in Honan Province. Only a few have convex reflecting surfaces. The rear knob on most is cylindrical, and decorated with linear designs, flutes, or raised bands. Occasionally, the knobs are in animal shapes, with the head, tail, and four legs all turned to the base of the knob.
One mirror style of this period is of thick metal, mainly decorated with reptiles and other animals set in a background of spirals or geometric patterns. A feeling of motion or expansion is created as the background designs interact.
Another type of pre-Han mirror has a rather narrow rim edge, curving inward, and background designs that highlight principal motifs, usually with symbolic significance. On one group of such mirrors, the Chinese character shan (mountain) constitutes the principal decor; they have become the representative mirrors of the period.
But, diamond-shaped patterns, linked bow-shaped patterns, and coiled and transfigured dragon designs also appear. First discovered in the Huai River area, they are known by the Huai designation.
Most of the extant bronze mirrors of the Warring States are truly exquisite, with fine, delicate designs (also found on other bronze objects of the time). Notably, foreign artistic influences from lacquer-painted, inlaid, and thread-carved and other objects freed mirrors of this period from the style rigors of the Shang and Chou Dynasties.
As the Warring States Period ended, China's First Emperor, Chin Shih Huang (246-214 B.C.), unified the country under the powerful Chin Dynasty. There followed a brutal repression in which great numbers of books were burned and many scholars buried alive. In deathly fear of the new regime, bronze craftsmen limited the embellishments entirely to decorative motifs.
The Han styles in mirrors held sway from the early Western Han Dynasty, on through the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Three Kingdoms (222-280), and the Tsin Dynasty (265-420), and then faded away during the Six Dynasties (222-589). Over this sweep of eight centuries, the rise and fall of dynasties and petty states is, unexpectedly, reflected in the vicissitudes of the mirror making arts.
During the Han Dynasty, as the Iron Age was ascending, bronze gradually lost its importance, and master craftsmen in the bronze arts experienced falling demand for their professional skills. However, the bronze mirror was still an indispensable daily necessity, and those craftsmen devoted to its creation continued to develop the state of the art.
During the early Han, bronze mirror design, shedding previous constraints, became vigorous and powerful: absent now was that strictly prescribed delicacy so notable in the pre-Han mirror. Especially after Emperor Wu (140-88 B.C.) pioneered commerce with the Western Regions (Sinkiang Province and parts of Central Asia), and the cultures of Central and Western Asia were introduced into China proper, the Chinese fascination with the imported arts flowered—a blooming also reflected in the designs of bronze mirrors.
Emperor Wu indulged his own fascination for the mystic, and the arts followed his focus. The four supernatural beasts—the unicorn, phoenix, tortoise, and dragon—symbolizing the four quadrants of the sky and the earth, and also the four seasons, were his special favorites. These were times of peace and great prosperity, and it was natural that lifestyles would blossom. Bronze mirrors of the time, consequently, trended toward the weird and mysterious, patently gorgeous, and dynamic.
Birds and animals in general are popular motifs for Han mirror designs, usually executed in fine lines as linked patterns of beasts. Often, now, ten to twelve inscribed Chinese characters show up around the knobs.
Later, in the period just before, and resuming after the reign of Wang Mang from 45 B.C.-23 A.D. (he usurped the Han throne and thus precipitated the dawn of the Eastern Han), the decorative back mirror surface was divided into units, replacing the familiar linked patterns.
During the 18-year reign of Wang Mang itself, techniques for making bronze mirrors surpassed those of the Western Han Dynasty. The knob of this new-style mirror is usually in the shape of a flower with four petals, set amidst a unicorn, phoenix, tortoise, and dragon. "Compass and square" patterns resembling the letters "T," "L," and "V" are placed directly above and below each animal.
Following this period, the craftsmanship of bronze mirror artisans remained at artistic levels previously achieved. But these were exquisite, particularly as executed for influential and wealthy families.
During the final Han Dynasty years, superlative craftsmanship bloomed once more, and the four mythical animals and "TLV" patterns gradually gave way to depictions of the immortals, of tigers, dragons, phoenixes, horses and chariots, and of human beings. The main decorative areas of these mirrors are executed in three-dimensional relief, offering a specially robust beauty.
During the times of the Three Kingdoms and the Tsin Dynasty, the turmoil and chaos of wars occupied China. Rulers now concentrated only on disputes with their rivals, and the arts suffered. There was less spare time and amplitude of mood for such minor items as decorative mirrors, and the final stages of the Han mirror gradually regressed to unsophisticated representations, still full of power and grandeur, so characteristic of the early Han.
Han Dynasty mirrors are also characterized by inscriptions in such calligraphic styles as the clerical and seal, and include dates, names, events, terms of adoration and auspiciousness, eulogies to virtues and achievements, and fairy tales. In early Han times, such mirror inscriptions were comparatively rare. Often, four, ten, or twelve characters were engraved in the frame area surrounding the knob.
A mirror created as a momento of love might well offer the following inscription: "Although we are so far apart, we see the same sun. And so it is, when I look in this mirror, as if you, my beautiful one, were here by my side." Indeed, such a mirror is called a chien jih chih kuang (a mirror inscribed, "We see the same sun—").
Propitious inscriptions include: Chang Sheng (Longevity), Chang Yi Tzu Sun (May Many Generations of Sons Enjoy Its Use), Chang Lo Fu Kuei (May Lasting Wealth and Honor Reign). Sometimes, the inscription characters are separated from each other by simple cloud patterns.
As time passed, the number of characters in the inscriptions gradually increased, until some mirrors offered full verse forms featuring seven words to each line.
The Han mirror might offer serpentine dragons, grass and leaves, the hundred nipples, the "TLV" pattern, layers of circles, linked bow-shapes, the four mythical beasts, the phoenix, animal heads, immortals (such as the Grand Old Lady of the West and the Royal Lord of the East), such supernatural animals as the green dragon and white tiger, and portrayals of scenes of war, singing and dancing, hunting, and fairy tales involving heavenly steeds and white tigers.
By the late Eastern Han or the Three Kingdoms, iron mirrors finally appeared. Though their decor is limited mainly to patterns of phoenixes and four-petaled flowers, they are inlaid with gold and silver in ways which enhance their vitality.
Then Yang Chien (Emperor Wen, 581-604) reunited the Chinese Empire, founding the short-lived Sui Dynasty (581-618) and indulging in great luxury and extravagance. And as a direct result, bronze artistry was again revitalized.
In the ensuing Tang Dynasty (618-907), a golden age of peace and prosperity stretched over China. The Tang Emperors ruled the vastest territory in Chinese dynastic history, and their international commerce resulted in China's introduction to and absorption of the quintessence of Persian and Indian arts, a fusion resulting in an artistic bloom of great splendor. The reign of Emperor Hsuantzung (713-755) is especially known for its flourishing production of exquisite handicrafts. The design and manufacture of bronze mirrors was not an exception.
The Tang mirror is free of fantasy decor; compared with mirrors of the pre-Han and Han periods, Tang decor is not only more realistic, but fresh, lively, and elegant. Mirror shapes are no longer confined. In addition to round, they are square, flower-shaped, and may incorporate long handles.
Most Tang mirrors are thick, with edges projecting upward to form triangular or squared rims. Knobs are either hemispheres or in animal shapes. The mirror face is usually convex. The metal alloy now contains greater amounts of silver and tin, giving the mirrors a silvery-white appearance.
The Tang mirrors retain elements of Han styles, but their patterns are more diverse. Subject matter from nature—plants, animals, fowl, fish, butterflies, dragonflies, mandarin ducks—join images from folklore and mythology. Popular folklore scenes include "Wang Shih Watching A Chess Match of the Immortals" and "Chang O Ascending to the Moon." Human figures, landscape scenes, geometric patterns, and the Taoist Eight Diagrams are also popular.
The expanding contact with foreign countries brought with it new ideas for mirror patterns. Rare animals in the Persian artistic style, grapes, and foreign flowers and foliage lend some of the Tang mirrors an exotic air.
Hai Shou Pu Tao Ching (Mirrors With Decorations of Lions and Grapes) occupy a special place among Tang mirrors. Usually, the central back surface of such a mirror is rich in animals, grapes, flowers with long petals and long leaves, peacocks, and phoenixes, and the outer area is populated by bees, butterflies, magpies, grapes, and various animals.
Tang mirror inscriptions also reflect the times. Poems of eight lines (each containing seven characters) and poems of four lines (each containing seven characters), rhythmical prose, palindromes, and antithetical constructions convey feeling; joined to the flourishing designs on the bronze mirrors, they create a unique harmony—a new realm in the mirror arts.
Mirrors of the Sung Dynasty (960-1279), compared with those of previous dynasties, although continuing the basic styles of the Tang Dynasty, are inferior, with one exception: a group of mirrors in the shape of the water-chestnut flower, and featuring a twining-branch motif rendered in fine-line relief, are considered outstanding. Still, the subject matter of the decor is rather mannered, lacking a certain virility.
With the Yuan (1271-1368) and Ming (1368-1644) Dynasties, glass mirrors gradually replaced the bronze mirror, and bronze craftsmanship yielded finally, then, to new technologies, joining the pantheon of lost Chinese arts....