Circular Mirror with Four Bosses, Thread-Relief Decoration of Dragons, Birds, Tigers, and Other Animals, Quatrefoil, and Auspicious Inscription
1st century BCE
Description
This circular mirror has a wide, flat outer rim embellished with a slightly sunken ring of chevron patterns in thread-relief down the center. This rim gives way to a beveled edge that sinks down to a lower field of decoration consisting of a narrow band of radiating lines; a circular band of animals in thread-relief; another narrow band of radiating lines; a band of medium width that is plain and undecorated; another band of radiating lines; and finally a quatrefoil with characters interspersed between each leaf. The four chracters between the leaves read "Chang Yi Zi Sun" (may your sons and grandsons appreciate this for a long time). The quatrefoil and chracters surround a hemispherical knob at the center. Within the circular band of animals in thread-relief, there are four tiny bosses that rise in relief; each boss is surrounded by a circle of linked arcs that form an eight-pointed star. In the patina on the reflecting surface, there are fabric pseudomorphs as well as actual remains of silk.
Dimensions
Diam. 18.6 cm (7 5/16 in.)
Provenance
Edmund Lin (1928-2006; Professor, Harvard Medical School), Boston; by bequest to the Harvard Art Museum
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