Lobed Mirror with Heaven and Earth between the Paired Phoenixes (mid to late 700s): Art, History and Details

Lobed Mirror with Heaven and Earth between the Paired Phoenixes (mid to late 700s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

This mirror bears an important inscription as well as symbolic imagery of the Eight Trigrams and Heaven and Earth to express the ancient Chinese cosmological ideas. The inscription reads: Circle above and square below: These are symbolic of heaven and earth. In the middle are the Eight Trigrams. Making clear [the forces of] yin and yang. Stars and constellations are well aligned; The sun and the moon are virtuous and bright. Circulating around [the earth] is water, Giving identity to the Four Great Rivers. Within are the mountain ranges, To signify the lordly heights.

Object facts

• Title: Lobed Mirror with Heaven and Earth between the Paired Phoenixes
• Date: mid to late 700s
• Culture: China, Tang dynasty (618-907)
• Type: Metalwork
• Technique: bronze
• Dimensions: Diameter: 22.5 cm (8 7/8 in.); Overall: 1.1 cm (7/16 in.); Rim: 0.7 cm (1/4 in.)
• Collection: China - Tang Dynasty
• Department: Chinese Art
• Accession number: 1995.351

A detail from the museum

This mirror contains cosmological symbolism with heaven represented by a large circle at top and earth by a square at bottom.

Collection credit

Gift of Drs. Thomas and Martha Carter in Honor of Sherman E. Lee

Further reading listed by the museum

• Chou, Ju-hsi. Circles of Reflection: The Carter Collection of Chinese Bronze Mirrors. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2000.
• Cahill, Suzanne E. "The Moon Stopping in the Void: Daoism and the LIterati Ideal in Mirrors of the Tang Dynasty." .Cleveland Studies in the History of Art 9 (2005): 24-41.
• Delacour, Catherine. La Voie du Tao: un Autre Chemin de L'être : Galeries Nationales, Grand Palais, 29 Mars-5 Juillet 2010. Paris: Reunion des Musees Nationaux, 2010.

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.