Bell-shaped Mirror (918–1392): Art, History and Details

Bell-shaped Mirror (918–1392) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

From ancient times, a mirror assumed various roles: a ritualistic tool, a diplomatic gift, and a luxury commodity. During the Goryeo dynasty (918–1392), which saw the great advancement of metallurgy, the royal court was the center of distributing sophisticated bronze artifacts. According to historical records, on the seventh day of the Lunar New Year, the king bestowed a bronze mirror inscribed with auspicious symbols upon each court official as part of a ceremony to celebrate the Day of Humans. This bronze mirror features a round concave surface that serves as the main decoration. Such concave surface can be traced back to the ancient time when a concave mirror was used to start a fire from sunlight during the daytime.

Object facts

• Title: Bell-shaped Mirror
• Date: 918–1392
• Culture: Korea, Goryeo dynasty (918–1392)
• Type: Metalwork
• Technique: bronze
• Dimensions: Overall: 15.6 x 9.6 x 0.4 cm (6 1/8 x 3 3/4 x 3/16 in.)
• Collection: Korean Art
• Department: Korean Art
• Accession number: 1917.679

A detail from the museum

Due to its origin as an important tool in religion and politics, mirrors are often mentioned in many Korean proverbs that warn about certain behaviors.

Collection credit

Gift of D. Z. Norton

Further reading listed by the museum

• "Accessions." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 4, no. 4 (1917): 64–67.
• Goryeo Dynasty: Korea's Age of Enlightenment, 918-1392. San Francisco: Asian Art Museum, 2003.
• Horlyck Charlotte. "The Eternal Link: Grave Goods of the Koryŏ Kingdom (918-1392 CE)." Ars Orientalis, no. 44 (2014): 156–179.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.