Description
Description: Chinese cast molded bronze mirror, with the reflective side covered by a thin layer of mercury/tin alloy. The back decoration of this mirror is particularly complex. As shown in the last picture, it is full of symbology, basically based on the Cardinal directions, which in ancient China were an important factor in burial practices. The outer ring of the decoration is molded with the 12 animals of Chinese Zodiac, starting from the North direction, which is indicated in the central circle by the Turtle entwined with the snake (the Black tortoise, see the Notes below). The inner ring is decorated with the Bagua (also known as Trigrams) symbols, which too are correctly orientated (Black, Water, related to North). The central circle is divided in four sections, each one corresponding to one of the “Four Guardians of the Four Compass Directions”: Tortoise = North, Dragon = East, Phoenix = South, Tiger = West. These are very well explained in the Notes here below and makes this a “cosmological” mirror. At the center, the pierced nibble is surrounded by lotus petals. This decoration is extremely rare, as we have not found any other identical example. Bronze mirrors which decoration is related to Cosmos are typical of Sui dynasty. Most of them are bearing the Four cardinal animals at the center, in some cases associated with the Twelve Zodiac animals in a separate band. It is not rare the presence of a band with inscriptions. Besides that, a very few mirrors are also bearing a band with the Bagua symbols, which too have Cosmic meanings, then a further band with the 24 constellations of the Lunar cycle and a band with inscriptions. We have found only seven mirrors with such complex decoration in books, Museums, and auction houses (see in the penultimate picture the one at the V&A Museum in London). But none with the Four cardinal animals, the Bagua and the Twelve zodiac animals alone, like our mirror, have we found on the net, nor in Museum collections, nor in specialized books as “Bronze mirrors from Sui to Tang dynasty” (Uragami Sokyu-do Co., Japan), “Bronze mirrors from Ancient China. Donald H. Graham Jr. Collection” by Toru Nakano, ISBN962-7956-01-5 (superb book), or “Chinese bronze mirrors – A study based on the Todd collection of 1,000 bronze mirrors found in the Five northern Provinces of Suiyuan, Shensi, Shansi, Honan and Hopei” by Milan Rupert and O. J. Todd. This does not mean that our mirror, being casted, is the only one ever made, but at the date is the only known one at our knowledge after extensive search. Does this mean that our mirror is the only one ever made, or is that impossible, being it casted? This is an interesting question, to which it is not easy to give a sure answer. Susan Costello, in “An Investigation of Early Chinese Bronze Mirrors at the Harvard University Art Museums”, ANAGPIC 2005 Paper 7, say that “The earliest mirrors were made using direct, ceramic molds. (…..) The clay was fired and then used to produce only one mirror because the mold was broken to remove the cast bronze. During the Han dynasty, soapstone molds were occasionally used. The advantage of using stone to cast bronze was that the foundry could reuse the mold multiple times. It is not known for certain if the molds were used to cast bronze, because they also could have been used to create a wax positive for lost wax casting. Lost wax casting was known in China from about the 5th century B.C. (Moy 2005), and although the date it was first used for mirrors is unknown, it appears to be the exclusive technique from the Tang Dynasty (618-906) onwards. Lost wax casting had two advantages over direct ceramic mold made mirrors. Numerous copies of a mirror can be produced from one mother mold, and there was much more design freedom because more three-dimensional and undercut shapes were possible”. As it is probably possible to see in the picture of the side view of our mirror, all the vertical sides are convergent, so to facilitate the extraction from a mold. No undercuts in the decoration, which is in bas-relief. It means that the mirror was not casted with the lost wax technique; thus, casted either with a ceramic or a stone mold. It could then either be unique or (most probably, we think) one of a set of copies, although rare. It is amazing to see how this mirror is still retaining his reflective properties after one thousand and five hundred years. The Pictures #7 and #8 shows the reflective side in its original condition, with a light overall surface staining and some spots where the underlying oxidized bronze is surfacing. By simply passing a soft cloth with a household deoxidizer (of the type for cleaning copper or silver ware) the mirror revealed the great conditions of its mercury and tin alloy reflective layer, see Picture #9. These mirrors are big, with a diameter above 20 cm, because of the dense decoration. To overcome the problem of excessive weight due to the big size, these mirrors are thin and are missing the thick border (see related picture of our one), which makes them real masterpieces particularly difficult to achieve under the points of view of the casting and of the polishing of the reflective surface. Our mirror is very thin and it weighs 999 grams. The surface of the reflective side is perfectly smooth, a bit convex and covered with a thin layer of mercury/tin alloy. The convexity does not have a constant radius of curvature but rather has an exponential trend (see Pictures #10 and #11). It has strange reflective properties when lighted in full Sun. The Picture #12 is showing its reflection of Sun light onto a wall; note the central spot of light surrounded by a crown of thin star-shaped rays (the dark areas at 5 and 7 o’clock in the image are the shadows of the nails’ stand of the mirror). These rays are originated in the narrow border of the convex area, which is indicated in the Picture #13. We have no idea about the reason of that strange optical phenomenon, which does not make this mirror as one of the very rare so-called “Magic mirrors”, but undoubtedly something strange happens, which should be related, as is for the Magic mirrors, to the rubbing/polishing action on mirror’ surface. The Picture #14 is showing the technical explanation of the “magic mirrors” phenomenon.
Dating: Sui dynasty (571 – 618 A.D.)
Size: 21.7 cm diameter
Provenance: Ex Carlo Cottarelli collection (see provenance of the ceramic snuff bottle C2). Ex Christie’s 9415 Sale, Lot 322, June 20th, 2002 (see Picture #15).
References: No identical references found.
Notes: Note1) From Wikipedia: The Black Tortoise is one of the Four Symbols of the Chinese constellations. Despite its English name, it is usually depicted as a tortoise entwined together with a snake. The name 玄武 (Xuanwu, Black Warrior) used in China does not mention either animal; the alternative name “Black Warrior” is a more faithful translation. It represents the north and the winter season; thus, it is sometimes called 北方玄武 (Black Tortoise, lit. Black Warrior, of the North.
Note 2) Mirrors were valued for ritual purposes associated with the power of reflection. Both good and bad Chinese spirits are supposed to throng the earth and plaque the living. Mirrors have the power to ward off evil since the form of any invisible spirit will become visible when reflected in the mirror. Taoist scholars are said to have worn a mirror hanging down their back so they could pursue their studies without fear of being harmed by the invisible spirits all around them (Rupert and Todd 1935). Nothing was considered more powerful in warding off these evil spirits than the threat of making them visible in the mirror. Not only the living, but also the dead were protected by mirrors. In burial, mirrors were often placed face up on the breast of the deceased to protect them from evil spirits. Mirrors were also buried alongside their owners with food, drink, and the other prized and necessary possessions to ensure a comfortable eternity (Rupert and Todd, 1935).
Note 3) The composition of the bronze alloy to cast the mirrors was carefully chosen. The mirrors are composed of about 70% copper, 25% tin and 5% lead. The copper-tin-lead ternary alloy that was used was very hard and brittle, but the silver-colored metal took a very good polish and for many of them it was good enough for a reflective surface (Chase, 1991). Nonetheless, increased reflectivity was achieved by mercury/tin alloy or by silver layers.
Note 4) From “The Animals of the Four Directions” by Laure Schwartz-Arenales, an excerpt from “The Beginning of the World”, Baur Foundation, Switzerland.
“The East is represented by wood, its constellation is the Green Dragon; the West by metal, its constellation is the White Tiger. The South corresponds to fire, and has as constellation the Red Bird; the North relates to water, its constellation is the Black Tortoise. Heaven by emitting the essence of these four stars produces the bodies of these four animals on earth. Of all the animals they are the first, and they are imbued with the fluids of the Five Elements in the highest degree.” (From “Wang Chong (27 – c. 97AD) Lunheng – Discourses Weighed in the Balance”)
Four fabulous astral beasts have watched over the four cardinal points of the world since the beginning of the Celestial Empire. Infused with yuanqi, the primordial breath, from the axis of the sky, the Pole Star and the Northern Bushel, our Big Dipper, with its emblematic Yellow Unicorn (Qilin), associated with the center and the earth, the Green Dragon (Qinglong), the Vermilion Bird (Zhuque), the White Tiger (Baihu) and the Black Tortoise – or Black Warrior – (Xuanwu), each govern a season and a palace comprising seven of the constellations of 28 lunar mansions (xiu) of the celestial equator.
-The Green Dragon (Qinglong) – The azure-scaled Green Dragon is heir to a long history and an astounding array of images, as we see in the jade pendants and masks of the Neolithic cultures of Hongshan and Liangzhu. Associated with spring, wood, yang and the seven lunar mansions of the Eastern Palace. This Cosmic Guardian, among its many avatars, appears as a manifestation of the dragon. Source of all metamorphoses, this benevolent creature is venerated, depending on the place and its function, as master of the waters, of the family of dragons of the wells, dilong ; as the rainmaker, moving like a fish in underground waves; or as master of the air, of the family of dragons of the sky, shenlong, sprung from clouds, filled with the primordial breath. Its prodigious skills were linked to the destiny of emperors, who revered the dragon as their ancestor, from the first mythical ruler, the Yellow Emperor Huangdi and his illustrious descendants, Yu the Great or Liu Bang, founders of the Xia and Han dynasties. Throughout the reigns of the Sons of Heaven, the rites and the prestige of the imperial court, its costumes and its etiquette, were all used to proclaim the ancestry of the divine dragon.
-The Vermilion Bird (Xiu) – The blazing Vermilion Bird personifies the seven lunar mansions of the Southern Palace over which it reigns (the Well, the Spirits, the Willow, the Seven Stars, the Spread Net, the Wings, the Chariot); it is linked to fire, to yang and to summer. It has the head of a rooster, the neck of a mandarin duck, the dazzling plumage of a peacock, a pheasant’s tail, the powerful flight of a swan, the legs of a crane and its melodious song delights all who hear it. Although it lives in faraway regions and on heavenly islands, often close to the sun, the fenghuang, as its syncretic body implies, is first and foremost the representative on earth of all feathered creatures, both real and imaginary.
-The Black Tortoise or Black Warrior (Xuanwu) – Guardian of the North, this hybrid creature, sometimes known as the Black Warrior (Xuanwu: xuan, “black”, wu, “warrior”), governs the seven lunar mansions of the Northern Palace (the Big Dipper, the Ox, the Maid, the Void, the Roof, the Encampment, the Wall); it is associated with water and winter. In astrological speculations that developed during the Warring States period, the Black Warrior played a primordial role in the control of human destiny thanks to its location in the northern quarter of the zodiac, where the Big Dipper and the North Star, as well as the asterisms governing birth, death and longevity, are found. The Black Warrior’s essential mission is to block the path of evil spirits which, according to geomantic beliefs, are particularly present at the gates of the northern regions.
-The White Tiger (Baihu) – In the western quarter of the world, the White Tiger guards the seven lunar mansions of the Western Palace (the Legs, the Bond, the Stomach, the Pleiades, the Net, the Beak, the Triad); it is associated with yin, metal and autumn. A sacred and majestic animal, king of the forests, mountains and wild beasts, it has been an object of veneration since ancient times. The White Tiger defends against demons and drives away disease with the courage and fighting spirit that have made it the ensign of warriors. Thanks to these heroic qualities, the White Tiger complements the dragon to form the oldest and most widely depicted pairing among the four cardinal deities.
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