Mirror with Four Spirits (581–618): Art, History and Details

Mirror with Four Spirits (581–618) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

Inscription: The immortal peaks rise as twins. The wise river now has a rival. Morning flowers are made bright and charming. At night, its light reflects the moon. The dragon coils around the jade disc. A pair of fabulous birds dance in harmony. It is said the Renshou era Was when the war began to end.

Object facts

• Title: Mirror with Four Spirits
• Date: 581–618
• Culture: China, Sui dynasty (581–618)
• Type: Metalwork
• Technique: bronze
• Dimensions: Diameter: 19.8 cm (7 13/16 in.); Overall: 1.5 cm (9/16 in.); Rim: 0.7 cm (1/4 in.)
• Collection: China - Sui Dynasty
• Department: Chinese Art
• Accession number: 1995.339

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, OH: 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.
• Moor, Bilha. Illustrated Ottoman Cosmographies, c. 1550-1700: The World through Muslim Eyes. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press Ltd, 2025.

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.