Mirror with Animals and Birds
Unknown Artist
early 700s
Medium
bronze inset with gilded-silver relief decoration
Dimensions
diam. 5.1 cm
Classification
Metalwork
Department
Chinese Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Edward L. Whittemore Fund
Accession Number
1951.292
About this artwork
The silver inset of this mirror back was decorated with several hand-beaten techniques. High-relief birds, beasts, and foliage were hammered from the underside (repoussé) and finely chiseled on the front (chased). The background and border were punched with a metal stamp of tiny circles. Mirrors of this precious material, diminutive size, and starlike form number among the most refined products of Tang metalworkers. Some historians suggest that miniature mirrors were specifically designed as bur...