Artwork Page for Mirror with Deities, Chariot, and the White Tiger

Details / Information for Mirror with Deities, Chariot, and the White Tiger

Mirror with Deities, Chariot, and the White Tiger

書畫鏡

100–200 CE
Medium
bronze
Measurements
Diameter: 18.3 cm (7 3/16 in.); Overall: 1.7 cm (11/16 in.); Rim: 0.9 cm (3/8 in.)
Weight: 503 g (1.11 lbs.)
Public Domain
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Did You Know?

The meaning of the complex imagery on this mirror's back is not fully understood.

Description

Depicted on the mirror back are two Daoist deities: the King Father of the East (Dongwanggong) and the Queen Mother of the West (Xiwangmu). Completing the design are the White Tiger of the west (one the Four Spirits representing the four cardinal directions, including the Green Dragon of the east, the Red Bird of the south, and the Dark Warrior of the north) and a chariot drawn by three horses. The reason for the redundancy of two symbolic images relating to the west is not known.
A bronze mirror, aged with a dark gray patina, is carved with narrative scenes around a central raised knob. Figures in rippling robes, one seated beneath a tasseled canopy, are detailed with incised lines. A striped tiger and a horse-drawn chariot frame the compositions. Concentric bands of geometric triangles and raised dots encircle the rim. Light glints off the surface, highlighting alternating smooth and textured patches.

Mirror with Deities, Chariot, and the White Tiger

100–200 CE

China, Eastern Han dynasty (25–220 CE)

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