Mirror with Xiwangmu
Unknown Artist
c. 317–400 CE
Medium
bronze
Dimensions
diam. 18.5 cm
Classification
Metalwork
Department
Chinese Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
The Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund
Accession Number
1983.213
About this artwork
This mirror depicts Xiwangmu, Queen Mother of the West, and her husband, Dongwanggong, King Father of the East, surrounded by mythical figures and animals. One of the earliest and most powerful goddesses in the Daoist pantheon, Xiwangmu can be identified by her U-shaped crown. Legend says that the two deities meet once a year representing the meeting of yin and yang, the two forces that constitute the universe. This mirror shows a band of 14 squares around the center containing a long inscriptio...