Cosmic Mirror Stand

CultureChinese

Date1st century C.E.

MediumHigh-tin bronze alloy and gilt bronze (lacquered wood sections are modern replacements)

DimensionsOverall: 14 5/8 × 11 inches (37.15 × 27.94 cm)

Credit LinePurchase: the Edith Ehrman Memorial Fund

Object numberF95-18/2

On View

On view

Gallery Location

Collections

East Asian Art

Terms

DescriptionThe semi-circular stand deeply hollowed and raised on a short quadrangular stem, with well-modelled terminals in the form of dragon heads' open jaws, bulging eyes, flared nostrils, and long antlers above pointed ears, the side of the stand finely engraved with complex cloud-scroll pattern and the dragon heads also with finely engraved details, with a separate gilt bronze mount in the form of four large radiating petal motifs forming a collar around the bottom of the stem and a stepped gilt bronze ring-mount ornamenting the edge of the base.Gallery Label

Gallery Label

Chinese mirrors were luxury items, intimately associated with grooming and dress, but also objects of magical symbolism, averting evil and illumining the darkness of the tomb. Their reverse was frequently decorated with auspicious and cosmic themes, such as the starburst ornament on this mirror which possibly signifies the heavens and constellations. Most mirrors were hand-held using a silk ribbon threaded through the knob, but this one, because of its exceptional size and weight, was provided with a stand.

Provenance

J. J. Lally & Co.;

Purchased from J. J. Lally & Co. by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1995.

Published References

Xiaoneng Yang, “A Han Bronze Mirror and Its Gilt Bronze Stand in the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art,” Oriental Art, vol. XLII, no. 1 (1996), 15 (repro.).

Deborah Emont Scott, ed., The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection, 7th ed. (Kansas City, MO: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2008), 304, no. 70 (repro.).

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