When science and technology were not yet developed, in order to meet their own needs for beauty, the ancestors used Jiansheng water as a mirror, and later with the arrival of the Bronze Age, people made copper into a mirror to look at people.
You don't look at it as a small mirror, but it carries the culture of the continent in the long history of the continent. I can peek into the social and economic state of the ancestors through the changes in the ornamentation of the bronze mirror in different periods.
Pre-Qin period
The earliest use of bronze mirrors on the mainland dates back to the early Shang Dynasty and reached its peak during the Warring States period.
The bronze mirrors of this period were mainly based on bronze as a carrier. People's understanding of nature and all things in the world is very shallow, like to appeal to gods and monsters, during the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, the ornamentation of its mirrors mainly depicts natural things, ghosts and gods related images, especially the original pictures and texts that symbolize the four sides of heaven and earth, such as dragons and phoenixes, gluttony, with a strong divine thinking. This is the performance of people in the harsh environment who place their spirits on the divination of ghosts and gods in anticipation of divine blessing. Due to technical limitations, the ornamentation of the bronze mirror is very rough and heroic, such as cloud thunder pattern and cockroach pattern, which mainly highlights the sacrificial use.
During the Spring and Autumn Warring States Period and the Qin Period, after the collapse of the lib and the collapse of the music, the bronze mirror ornament has also changed, which is mainly based on the ground pattern and the theme pattern, forming a two-layer flower, setting off the atmosphere with the ground pattern, and expressing the theme with the theme pattern. The ornamentation is layered and stacked, interlocking, tight and tight, and the ornamentation has more spirit patterns, mountain character patterns, animal patterns, etc., due to technological progress, gold and silver mistakes, gemstones and the famous dai glazed patterns.
The Two Han Dynasties, wei and Jin dynasties
In the Two Han Dynasties, due to the relatively long political structure and the prosperity of culture, the copper mirror production process was significantly more advanced than that of the rugged style of the pre-Qin era, and the copper mirror at this time was under the idea of "the heavenly path is round, the tunnel is square" Under the idea that the whole is a flat edge circle to symbolize the heavens, and the interior is surrounded by a square frame with a button seat or milk nail pattern to symbolize the ground.
The back of the mirror is often accompanied by images of mountains, rivers and birds and beasts, and the four gods, also known as "four spirits" or "four elephants", are common auspicious images of Han bronze mirrors. "Three Auxiliary Yellow Figures": "Canglong, White Tiger, Suzaku, Xuanwu, the Four Spirits of Heaven, with the four squares." This is the orientation concept in the ideological understanding of the Han Dynasty.
The ancients divided the twenty-eight stars near the ecliptic and the equator into four groups, each group of seven, according to the method of "becoming an image in the heavens and forming a pattern on the earth", condensing the four divine beasts from them with superb imagination, representing the four directions respectively.
The customs and beliefs of the Han Dynasty can also find clues in the bronze mirror, and the bronze mirror they make can always make people feel strongly the pursuit of family prosperity, fu rui auspiciousness, immortality, cherished friendship and even love.
Since ancient times, the full hall of children and grandchildren has been the lifelong desire of the ancients on the mainland, and during the two Han Dynasties, the heirs were regarded as extremely important, and the "New Treatise and Debate" included "many descendants" in the "Five Blessings". Han mirrors are also often inscribed with words such as "Yi Descendants", "Changyi Descendants", "Changsheng Xuanzi", etc. Because the ancients found that in nature, toads have strong reproductive ability and are regarded by the Han Dynasty as a symbol of many children and many grandchildren, so they are also regular guests of copper mirror ornaments.
The Han Dynasty prevailed in the study of Huang Lao, so on the bronze mirror will appear long head, long ears, back with feathers or body hair of the feather figure, they have simple lines, with the characteristics of the unity of man and beast, often with the four gods, jade rabbits, toads, unicorns and other auspicious rui appear together.
The prevalence of Taoism can also be seen in the inscriptions of the bronze mirror, such as the eight birds in the inscription of the bronze mirror with the inscription of the bird and beast pattern collected by the Nanjing Municipal Museum, which refers to the Bear Sutra, the Bird Shen, the Yu Bath, the Yuan Jue, the Chi Shi, the Tiger Gu, the Eagle (Jiao) Breath, and the Turtle Shrinkage.
Among them, the "Nine Shou" is the "Shou Shen, Shou Qi, Shou Ren, Shou Jian, Shou Yi, Shou Qing, Shou Ying, and Shou Weak" in the "Seven Secrets". "Taoism believes that practicing the Nine Shou can achieve the realm of a real person.
In some bronze mirrors of the Han Dynasty, the words "Thirst for Jade Springs", "Hungry Dates", and "Long Live a Thousand Autumns" all show the Han Dynasty's expectations for feathering into immortals and immortality.
The Wei and Jin Dynasties entered this period, and the main ornamentation of the bronze mirror was more based on birds, animals, insects, fish, and Qingliu gods, but the overall innovation was not large, which may be related to the prevalence of Taoism and the love of Xuanxuan.
Sui and Tang Dynasties
In the Sui and Tang dynasties, the Central Plains ended the chaotic situation of the confrontation between the northern and southern dynasties, the politics gradually became clear, the hundred industries gradually flourished, and the craft of the bronze mirror also reached a new peak.
In the early Tang Dynasty, the four god mirrors were still popular, supplemented by flowers, dragons and phoenixes, flying heavens, zodiac signs, etc., usually with three to six sentences or miscellaneous inscriptions in the outer circle. The original popular divine beast pattern evolved into the Rui beast pattern, which initially resembled a dog, and after the image matured, it became more like a lion, and later with the frequent contact between the Tang Dynasty and the West, the grape pattern became popular. The result was the famous Grape Grape Mirror.
After Emperor Gaozong Li zhi entered the Sheng Tang Dynasty, the bronze mirror system got rid of the influence of the Wei and Jin dynasty styles, and derived the craftsmanship and ornamentation of the Sheng Tang style.
The style of the god-like beast in the bronze mirror ornament gradually disappeared, replaced by a plump beauty, and the image of a slightly fat and plump woman reflected the style of the era when fat was beautiful, and the fierce and rough ornaments disappeared and replaced by various static flowers, birds, insects and fish. Ornamental grasses such as grapes, vines, and honeysuckles also appear in the mirror.
During this period, the character modification of the bronze mirror formed a pattern based on the dragon pattern, the story pattern, the treasure phase pattern and the Buddhist temple pattern, reflecting the prevailing state of Buddhism at that time. Some bronze mirrors also appear on the Hu people pattern is very exotic style.
These ornaments full of social atmosphere reflect the civilized social thinking and natural and unconventional life appearance of the time.
The process of copper mirrors has also made great progress at this time, in addition to the traditional glass relief and through carving technology, it has also developed innovative technologies such as gold-plated gemstones, gold-inlaid gemstones, and gold and silver stickers. At the same time, the addition of tin lead and other metals in the casting made the weight of the copper mirror greatly increased, the Sui and Tang dynasties also had a strong grinding mirror technology, the Tang people added mercury, alum, etc. in the copper mirror, the copper mirror surface was clear, and finally developed the gilded set grinding method and the gold sleeve grinding method.
In general, the ornamentation technology, ornamental content, and ornamental patterns of the bronze mirror have reached their peak, which also reflects the prosperous social appearance of the time.
To be continued
The above image resource comes from the National Documentation Center for Philosophy and Social Sciences
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