Mirror with Handle, Decorated with "Double Happiness" and Five Bats (c. 1800): Art, History and Details

Mirror with Handle, Decorated with "Double Happiness" and Five Bats (c. 1800) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Tang Wanheng (Chinese, active c. 1800).

The work and its context

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

This mirror bears a large character of xi 囍 ("double happiness," as in a marriage) as its principal decoration. Below that, a smaller inscription in a rectangular frame establishes the mirror maker's identity. Tang Wanheng 湯萬亨 must have enjoyed a lucrative trade and sufficient renown to warrant the inclusion of his name on his products. It has been suggested that these mirrors were not so much made for reflective purposes as for ritualistic use during the marriage ceremony, hence the "double happiness" as its main decoration.

Object facts

• Title: Mirror with Handle, Decorated with "Double Happiness" and Five Bats
• Date: c. 1800
• Creator attribution: Tang Wanheng (Chinese, active c. 1800)
• Culture: China, Qing dynasty (1644-1911)
• Type: Metalwork
• Technique: brass
• Dimensions: Diameter: 16.5 cm (6 1/2 in.); Overall: 0.6 cm (1/4 in.); Rim: 0.6 cm (1/4 in.)
• Collection: China - Qing Dynasty
• Department: Chinese Art
• Accession number: 1995.401

A detail from the museum

The five–bat design signals a wish for good fortune.

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.
• Ledes, Allison Eckardt. "Current and Coming" Antiques, (March 2002) pp. 28–30.

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.