Bronze Mirror

The bronze mirror was used by the Chinese people before the introduction of the glass mirror. The unearthed bronze mirror in the Cultural Relics of Qi Family of Gansu Province traced the Chinese bronze mirror history to 4000 years ago. In a long history, the bronze mirror was not only an indispensable commodity for the people's daily life, but even an art treasure of the Chinese culture.

Because the Chinese people had a concept of "hemispherical dome" since the ancient times, the bronze mirror was generally round in shape. A bronze mirror is mainly composed of a frame, a mirror, a button, a button base, inside and outside ornamentation, and the fringe. There were various ornaments, such as convex, phoenix, beast, flower and leaves, lattice ornamentations, etc. Some also have inscriptions. The changes of the structures of the bronze mirrors in different historical periods reflected the influences of the social and cultural differences of such periods. The ornamentations and the inscriptions are the key part for the people to appreciate the bronze mirrors.

There were the excellent bronze mirrors unearthed in the past dynasties of China, particularly the Han and Tang Dynasties were two peaks for the development of the bronze mirror arts. Until the middle and later period of the Qing Dynasty, about 200 years ago, the bronze mirror was replaced by the glass mirror, and gradually retreated from the people's life. However, the bronze culture with a long history, exquisite techniques, abundant connotation, has not disappeared yet, but has profoundly integrated into the social life and cultural consciousness of the Chinese people.