2nd century BCE
This circular bronze mirror has a border of sixteen unembellished linked arcs. The decorated field is sunken. There is a very narrow inner border of radiating straight lines. Within the main decorated field there are four main bosses, each one on a circular field with a ten-point star pattern. Between the four bosses, there are scrolling lines in relief that connect smaller bosses, which lack the circular field surrounding the larger bosses. The central knob suggests a mountain with several peaks. The reflecting side of the mirror has been highly polished.
Diam. 11.2 cm (4 7/16 in.)
Edmund Lin (1928-2006; Professor, Harvard Medical School), Boston; by bequest to the Harvard Art Museum
Cast bronze
8th centuryChineseCast bronze
5th-3rd century BCEChineseLeaded bronze
5th century BCEGreekCopper alloy
4th century BCEGreekCopper alloy
3rd century BCEEtruscanCast bronze
1st century CEChineseOpaque watercolor, gold-colored pigments, and lacquer over brass layer on pasteboard
18th-19th centuryCast bronze
8th centuryChineseBronze
3rd century BCEEtruscanOpaque watercolor, gold-colored pigments, and lacquer on pasteboard
19th centuryPersianCast bronze, the inset gold back with repoussé and ring-punched designs
8th centuryChineseCast bronze
2nd century BCEChinese