Artwork Page for Mirror

Details / Information for Mirror

Mirror

794–1185

Japan, Heian period

(794–1185)
Medium
bronze
Measurements
Diameter: 21 cm (8 1/4 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of D. Z. Norton 1917.681
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
Print

Description

The polished side of this eight-pointed mirror has an incised design of the kami Takemikazuchi riding on a deer from Kashima to Mount Mikasa, where he takes up residence. Although the mirror itself could have been produced as early as the 1300s, the incised line work has a fresh quality more consistent with later works, and the image may have been executed as late as the 1600s–1800s. Unlike most painted images of the episode, this incised one includes neither the sakaki tree branch supporting the Buddhist manifestations of the five Kasuga kami, nor Takemikazuchi’s companions. The back of the mirror has a design of two phoenixes.
An eight-lobed bronze mirror, dark with a textured surface, features a central raised knob holding a bright orange-red tuft. Two birds with long, curving tail feathers circle the center in raised relief; the bird above faces right, and the bird below faces left. Swirling cloud motifs are interspersed around the birds, all framed by a scalloped rim that gives the circular object a flower-like shape.

Mirror

794–1185

Japan, Heian period (794–1185)

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