Artwork Page for Mirror with Phoenixes, Birds, Butterflies, and Floral Sprays

Details / Information for Mirror with Phoenixes, Birds, Butterflies, and Floral Sprays

Mirror with Phoenixes, Birds, Butterflies, and Floral Sprays

金銀平脫花鳥鏡

700s

China, Tang dynasty

(618-907)
Medium
bronze with silver and gold inlaid lacquer
Measurements
Diameter: 19.2 cm (7 9/16 in.)
Credit Line
Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund 1973.74
Public Domain
You can copy, modify, and distribute this work, all without asking permission. Learn more about CMA's Open Access Initiative.
Location
239 Chinese Ceramics and Metalwork
Print
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Did You Know?

Mirrors like this have a polished side for viewing and a decorated side with a central knob for lifting.

Description

This extremely rare pingtuo mirror is coated with a lacquer base inlaid with paper-thin sheets of silver and gold. The decorative patterns, especially the floral arabesques and the phoenixes and birds holding branches in their mouths, have a pronounced Persian and Central Asian flavor. Luxury items like this had been used by the Tang emperor as diplomatic gifts. A similar example from the Japanese imperial collection of Emperor Shōmu was donated by Empress Kōmyō in 756 to the Shōsō-in repository of the Tōdai-ji Temple, Nara, Japan.
A circular bronze disc painted with black and detailed with silver and gold designs. The designs cover the disc in a symmetrical pattern, with intricate silver paintings of phoenixes as well as gold and silver paintings of birds, butterflies, flowers, and plants.

Mirror with Phoenixes, Birds, Butterflies, and Floral Sprays

700s

China, Tang dynasty (618-907)

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