Mirror with 'Shan' (Mountain) Pattern (200s BCE): Art, History and Details

Mirror with 'Shan' (Mountain) Pattern (200s BCE) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

Chinese mirror-casting achieved new elegance and precision with the technical development of stamped clay molds over which molten bronze was poured. A small rectangular unit of design was repeatedly stamped to create this background of curls and granulation, which resembles feather-covered textiles known from early tomb finds. The dominant pattern of slanting "T," pressed down upon the mold after the overall background stamps, corresponds to the modern Chinese character for shan (山 or mountain). Whether the pattern was symbolic or decorative during the Zhou Dynasty is unknown. The site of manufacture is probably south China, since many mirrors of this type have been excavated from tombs in that area.

Object facts

• Title: Mirror with 'Shan' (Mountain) Pattern
• Date: 200s BCE
• Culture: China, probably State of Chu, possibly Hunan province, Eastern Zhou dynasty (770–256 BCE), Warring States period (475–221 BCE)
• Type: Metalwork
• Technique: bronze
• Dimensions: Diameter: 18 cm (7 1/16 in.)
• Collection: China - Zhou Dynasty
• Department: Chinese Art
• Accession number: 1972.34

Collection credit

Edward L. Whittemore Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Lee, Sherman E. “The Year in Review for 1972.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 60, no. 3, 1973, pp. 63–115.
• Christman, Bruce. "Three Gilded Tibetan Vessels." Gilded Metals: History, Technology and Conservation. Edited by Terry Drayman Weisser. London, England: Archetype Publications in association with the American Institute of Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works, 2000.

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.