TLV Mirror with Multiple Nipples (9–23 CE): Art, History and Details

TLV Mirror with Multiple Nipples (9–23 CE) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

TLV mirrors of the Han dynasty were named after the motifs resembling the letters T, L, and V. Their meaning relates to cosmology. A concentric band of characters around the central knob reads, Good copper of the current Xin dynasty was mined at Danyang. / Mixed with white tin, the alloy is clear and bright. . . . Danyang county in Jiangsu province was rich in metal resources. Mirrors mentioning Danyang were found in Zhejiang, Hubei, Henan, Hunan, and Shanxi provinces, which suggests their export beyond Jiangsu. Alternatively, competing mirror makers elsewhere could have used Danyang as an early type of branding.

Object facts

• Title: TLV Mirror with Multiple Nipples
• Date: 9–23 CE
• Culture: China, Xin dynasty (9–23 CE)
• Type: Metalwork
• Technique: bronze
• Dimensions: Diameter: 16.3 cm (6 7/16 in.); Overall: 1.2 cm (1/2 in.); Rim: 0.6 cm (1/4 in.)
• Collection: China - Han Dynasty
• Department: Chinese Art
• Accession number: 1995.295

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: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2000.
• Griswold, William, Xiaofei Tian, Richard Von Glahn, Feng Zhao, S. J. Vainker, Masaaki Itakura, Jiang Wu, et al. China’s Southern Paradise: Treasures from the Lower Yangzi Delta. Edited by Clarissa Von Spee. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2023.

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.