銅鏡、饕餮、天人 Chinese Bronze Mirrors

Although having always been attracted to ancient Chinese culture and artefacts, I only fell in love with Chinese bronzeware "properly" during the studies of Chinese art and archaeology in my first year of university. Amongst various beautiful objects, the mystical and highly aesthetic bronze mirrors are my favourite.

Bronzes (simplified Chinese: 青铜器; traditional Chinese: 青銅器; pinyin: qīng tóng qì; Wade-Giles: ch'ing t'ong ch'i) are some of the most important pieces of Chinese art, warranting an entire separate catalogue in the Imperial art collections. The Chinese Bronze Age began in the Xia Dynasty, and bronze ritual containers form the bulk of the collection of Chinese antiques, reaching its zenith during the Zhou Dynasty. The appreciation, creation and collection of Chinese bronzes as pieces of art and not as ritual items began in the Song Dynasty and reached its zenith in the Qing Dynasty in the reign of the Qianlong emperor, whose massive collection is recorded in the catalogues known as the Xiqing gujian (西清古鑑) and the Xiqing jijian (西清繼鑑). Within those two catalogues, the bronzeware is categorised according to use:

Sacrificial vessels (祭器),
Wine vessels (酒器),
Food vessels (食器),
Water vessels (水器),
Musical instruments (樂器),
Weapons (兵器),
Measuring containers (量器),
Ancient money (錢幣), and
Miscellaneous (雜器).

The most highly prized are generally the sacrificial and wine vessels, which form the majority of most collections. Often these vessels are elaborately decorated with Taotie (饕餮) patterns.

漢 四神博局銘文鏡 徑11.8 x 厚0.5

臺灣國立歷史博物館

Han Dynasty bronze mirror, National History Museum, Taipei, Taiwan.

宋 龍紋綾花鏡 直徑16.9公分

圓鏡，作八尖瓣菱花形，鈕有傷缺。鏡背飾龍紋與壽山福海。

臺灣國立故宮博物院

Song Dynasty bronze mirror, National Palace Museum, Taipei, Taiwan.

唐 月魄鏡 直徑18.2公分

圓鏡，作八瓣菱花形、龜形鈕。鏡背飾嫦娥、月兔、臼杵、玉桂樹與蟾蜍，間飾雲紋，鏡緣則以卷雲與花枝間隔排列。

臺灣國立故宮博物院

Tang Dynasty bronze mirror, National Palace Museum, Taipei, Taiwan.

周 羽狀紋鏡 徑11.1X厚0.3

器形：鏡/ 功能：生活用具/ 技法：塊範法/ 紋飾：四葉捲草紋，瑞獸

臺灣國立歷史博物館

Zhou Dynasty bronze mirror, National History Museum, Taipei, Taiwan.

In China, the greatest part of discovered and preserved bronze items were not forged to ploughs or swords but cast to sacrificial vessels. Even a great part of weapons had a sacrificial meaning like daggers and axes that symbolised the heavenly power of the ruler. The strong religious sense of bronze objects brought up a great number of vessel types and shapes which became so typical that they should be copied as archaic style receptacles with other materials like wood, jade, ivory or even gold until the 20th century.

The ritual books of old China minutely describe who was allowed to use what kinds of sacrificial vessels and how much. The king of Zhou was favoured to use 9 dings and 8 gui vessels, a duke was allowed to use 7 dings and 6 guis, a baron could use 5 dings and 3 guis, a nobleman was allowed to use 3 dings and 2 guis.

{Information via Wikipedia}

西漢 四乳草葉銘紋鏡 徑14 x 厚0.35

臺灣國立歷史博物館

Western-Han Dynasty bronze mirror, National History Museum, Taipei, Taiwan.

唐 玉匣鏡 直徑16.0公分

圓鏡，圓鈕、四葉紋鈕座。內區飾四獸紋與規矩紋，外區銘文帶二十字。

臺灣國立故宮博物院

Tang Dynasty bronze mirror, National Palace Museum, Taipei, Taiwan.

宋 謝少塘造青鏡 直徑11.3公分

圓鏡，橋鈕、圓鈕座。鏡背飾乳丁紋與雲紋。有銘二處各四字。

臺灣國立故宮博物院

Song Dynasty bronze mirror, National Palace Museum, Taipei, Taiwan.

Bronze mirrors were produced in China from neolithic times until the Qing Dynasty, when western glass mirrors were brought to China. Bronze mirrors were usually circular, with one side polished bright, to give a reflection, and the reverse side with designs. They often had a knob in the center so that they could be attached to clothing. Some of the earliest examples of Chinese bronze mirrors belonged to the Neolithic Qijia culture from around 2000 BCE. However, until Warring States times, bronze mirrors were not common with approximately only twenty having been discovered. During the Warring States period, mirrors became particularly popular. It was during the Han Dynasty, and the introduction of the TLV mirror, that mirrors started to be mass-produced. Both Han and Tang mirrors are considered to be the most technically advanced. Bronze mirrors continued to remain popular up through the Song Dynasty, but then gradually lost their popularity and ceased to be produced after the arrival of Western mirrors during the Ming and Qing dynasties.

{via: Wikipedia}

隋末唐初 瑩質鏡 直徑16.1公分

圓鏡，半球鈕、圓鈕座。鏡背飾瑞獸葡萄紋，最外圈有銘：「練所神冶，瑩質良工。如珠出匣，似月停空。當眉寫翠，對臉傳紅。綺窗繡晃，俱含影中」。

臺灣國立故宮博物院

Bronze mirror, late-Sui/ early-Tang dynasties, National Palace Museum, Taipei, Taiwan.

元 四獸四鳳紋鏡 直徑24.8公分

圓鏡，圓鈕、花瓣形鈕座。內區飾異獸，外區飾鳳紋與花卉。

臺灣國立故宮博物院

Yuan Dynasty bronze mirror, National Palace Museum, Taipei, Taiwan.

五代 星官紋鏡 直徑14.5公分

圓鏡，圓鈕。鏡背飾兩仙人，一坐於樹下、一坐乘浮雲，旁有龜與鶴鳥。

臺灣國立故宮博物院

Bronze mirror, Five Dynasties Period, National Palace Museum, Taipei, Taiwan.

唐 雙魚紋鏡 直徑11.9公分

圓鏡，橋鈕。鏡背飾魚紋，銘文帶模糊不清。

臺灣國立故宮博物院

Tang Dynasty bronze mirror, National Palace Museum, Taipei, Taiwan.

唐 雙魚紋鏡 直徑17.1公分

圓鏡，橋鈕。鏡背飾魚紋。

臺灣國立故宮博物院

Tang Dynasty bronze mirror, National Palace Museum, Taipei, Taiwan.

古代少女閨房私物：葵花銅鏡

唐代海獸葡萄紋銅鏡

1980年陜西漢中地區西鄉縣出土，直徑29釐米，陜西歷史博物館藏。

圓形，臥獸鈕，鏡面分兩區。內區飾六隻瑞獸攀援葡萄枝蔓，外區飛禽、異獸同向穿梭于葡萄枝葉之間，生動活潑。圖案立體感極強。

Tang Dynasty bronze mirror, Shannxi History Museum, China.

漢 四孔草葉銘文鏡 徑13.8 x 厚0.4

臺灣國立歷史博物館

Han Dynasty bronze mirror, National History Museum, Taipei, Taiwan.

*References and further readings:

中國銅鏡藝術 The Art of Chinese Bronze Mirrors (only in Chinese)

臺灣數位典藏聯合目錄 銅鏡藏品 Digital Archives Taiwan - bronze mirrors

臺灣國立歷史博物館 National History Museum, Taipei, Taiwan.

臺灣國立故宮博物院 National Palace Museum, Taipei, Taiwan.

Photography of the Shannxi History Museum, China - a set on Flickr

Shannxi History Museum on Wikipedia