Page 95 - The Arts of China, By Michael Sullivan Good Book

99 TLV-type cosmologicil mirTor.
Bronze. Hin Dynuty.
A typical TLV mirror has a large central boss surrounded by a
square panel with twelve smaller bosses separating the characters
of the twelve earthly branches. The Ts, Ls, and Vs protrude into a
circular zone adorned with animals, which, taken together with
the fifth, central zone, symbolise the five elements, a system of
cosmology first set down by Tsou Yen (c. 350-270 B.C.) and very
popular in Han times. According to this system, the great ultimate
(t'ai-chi) produces the positive-negative dualism of yang and yin,
the interaction of which in turn gives birth to the five elements
(wu-hsing) from which all events and objects are derived. The way
in which the five elements relate to each other and are symbolised
is as follows:
element Junction colour direction season symbol
water puts out fire black north winter "black warrior"
(snake and
tortoise)
fire melts metal red south summer bird (phoenix)
metal destroys wood white west autumn tiger
wood overcomes earth green cast spring dragon
earth absorbs water yellow centre tsung
On the TLV mirror, the central circle within a square represents
the earth symbol, (sung, while the four directions, seasons, and
75
material