Page 72 - The Arts of China, By Michael Sullivan Good Book

to Bowl. Painted Lacquer. Laic Warring 71 Designs on an inlaid bronze hu. Late
Stales period. Warring States period.
BRONZE MIRRORS Large numbers of bronze mirrors have been found both in the
north and within the confines ofCh'u state. At first, and always to
some degree, their purpose was not to reflect one's face only but
one s very heart and soul. An entry in the Tso-chuan under the year
658 B.C. says of a certain individual: "Heaven has robbed him of
his mirror"—i.e., made him blind to his own faults. The mirror
too is that in which all knowledge is reflected—as it was to the me-
—
diaeval encylopaedist St. Vincent of Beauvais "The heart of the
sage is quiet," wrote Chuang Tzu, "it is a mirror of Heaven and
Earth, a mirror of all things." The mirror also holds and reflects
the rays of the sun, warding off evil and lighting the eternal dark-
ness of the tomb.
Bronze mirrors were made at Anyang during the Shang Dy-
nasty, while mirrors almost as crude have been found in tombs of
the early Eastern Chou. The craft improved remarkably, like all
else, during the Warring States. Of the many new types 1 can only
mention a few. Mirrors from the Loyang region have stylised
72 Rubbingof back of a mirror.
Excavated from Kuo State Cemetery at
Shang-<s'un-ling, Honan. "Spring and
Autumn" period, early Eastern Chou.
73 Mirror, Loyang type. Broiue. Late 74 Mirror, Shou-chou type. Bronre
Warring States period, third century B.C. Late Warring States period, third
century b.c.