Item number: X25

Year: circa AD 690-907

Material: Bronze

Size: 260.0 x 260.0 x 6.2 mm

Weight: 1.865 kg

Provenance:

1. Robert Ricketts 2025

2. The Lowenson Collection

This bronze mirror dates to the Tang dynasty.

The reflective surface is smooth and plain. At the centre of the reverse side is a spherical knob without a seat. The background consists of black lacquer, above the knob of which stand two figures facing each other. In the lower left, two cattle are positioned vis-à-vis; one is kneeling on its forelegs, seemingly drinking water. This composition may refer to the historical anecdote of ‘Chao Fu leading the ox and Xu You washing his ears’. The peripheral space is sparsely adorned with flora, clouds, mountains, and trees. The patterns appear to have been executed using the technique currently known as mother-of-pearl inlay (luodian), a method by which shell fragments of molluscs are embedded into the surface layer.

In his twilight years, Yao intended to abdicate the imperial throne to Xu You, whose character was highly exalted, because Yao’s own son, Danzhu, was unworthy. Xu You, however, declined the offer and retreated into obscurity beneath Mount Ji. This classical anecdote of ‘Yao abdicating the empire’ was even reinterpreted by later generations as a political maneuver through which a monarch could simultaneously safeguard actual authority and harvest an illustrious reputation for sagacity. Subsequently, Yao repeatedly summoned Xu You to serve as the chief of the Nine Provinces, a secular honor that Xu You wished not to hear, prompting him to wash his ears at the banks of the Ying River. Nevertheless, when the hermit Chao Fu arrived with his ox to drink from the river and learned of the reason, he provided a trenchant critique, suggesting that if Xu You genuinely desired seclusion, he should not have allowed himself to be discovered so easily. Chao Fu perceived the act of ear-washing merely as a hypocritical manifestation of intentionally seeking public repute, and immediately expressing disdain that it would ‘defile the mouth of my calf’, led his ox upstream to drink. In subsequent history, Xu You came to be regarded as the progenitor and archetype of the recluse.

The utilization of mirrors in China can be traced back to the Qijia culture in the Gansu region, circa 2400 to 1600 BC. Textual records in historical chronicles date as far back as the twenty-first year of Duke Zhuang of Lu (673 BC), which states that ‘when the Earl of Zheng feasted the King, the King presented him with the mirror-girdle of the Queen’. Commentators have interpreted the ‘mirror-girdle’ (panjian) as a belt adorned with a mirror, intended for personal wear.

During the early phase of the nascent Tang dynasty, bronze mirrors predominantly perpetuated the archaistic styles inherited from the Han and Six Dynasties, characterized by circumferentially symmetrical representations of the Four Directional Deities and the Twelve Zodiac Animals, resulting in a relatively sluggish development. It was not until the latter half of the 7th century (from the reign of Emperor Gaozong to Wu Zetian) that a plethora of novel themes emerged in tandem with an open worldview and the influx of Western Region cultures. The metamorphic decorative motifs resonated dynamically with contemporary silk textiles, gold and silver wares, and painting. Themes such as flowers, trailing vines, avian and beast motifs, hunting, and polo-playing became ubiquitous, alongside subject matter illustrating human ideals. Concurrently, asymmetrical, painterly compositions began to appear. By the Kaiyuan and Tianbao eras of the High Tang, the art of bronze mirrors entered a period of maturation and innovation. The stylistic paradigm shifted from the complex and elaborate to the natural and elegant; compositions became increasingly concise, rounded, and naturalistic, whilst the morphology of the mirrors evolved from traditional circular forms to encompass mallow-shaped and water-lily-shaped variants with eight foliations or eight petals.

物件編號: X25

年代: 約公元 690-907 年

材料: 青銅

XRF分析結果

尺寸: 260.0 x 260.0 x 6.2 mm

重量: 1.865 kg

來源:

1. 羅伯特·里基茨 2025

2. 洛文森舊藏

這是一面青銅鏡，來自唐代。

鏡面光素。鏡背中央為球形鈕，無鈕座。地章為黑漆，鈕的上方為兩個人物相對而立，左下有二牛相對，一牛前腿跪伏，狀似飲水。可能與「巢父牽牛，許由洗耳」的典故有關。周圍稀疏得綴有花草、雲朵、山形、樹木。圖樣應使用今稱為「螺鈿」的工藝，即將貝類的殼片鑲嵌在表面的技法。

堯晚年因兒子丹朱不肖，欲將帝位禪讓給志向高潔的許由，卻遭其拒絕並退隱箕山，這段「堯讓天下」的典故在後世甚至被視為君王既能保全實權、又能博得賢明美譽的一種政治手段。隨後，堯再度召許由擔任九州長，許由因不願聽聞世俗名利而至潁水旁洗耳；然而，當隱士巢父牽牛前來飲水並得知緣由後，卻一針見血地諷刺許由若是真心隱居，便不該輕易讓人尋得，認為洗耳之舉不過是刻意浮游求名的偽善表現，隨即嫌其「污吾犢口」而牽牛至上游飲水。後世，許由成為隱士形象的始祖及典型。

中國對於鏡的使用最早可以追溯到公元前2400至1600年左右甘肅地區的齊家文化，史籍的紀載則可以追溯到魯莊公二十一年(公元前673年)，其時「鄭伯之享王也，王以后之鞶鑒予之」，有注家釋義，鞶鑒為繫帶之鏡，以隨身佩帶。

初唐銅鏡早期多沿襲漢朝及六朝以來的環繞對稱四神、十二生肖等復古風格，發展較為緩慢；直到7世紀下半葉（高宗至武則天時期），隨着開放的世界觀和西域文化的輸入，新題材大量湧現，文飾千變萬化，與當時的絲織、金銀器及繪畫交相輝映，普遍流行花卉、蔓藤、飛禽走獸、狩獵打馬毬，以及展現人物理想的題材，並開始出現非對稱的，如畫作一般的圖樣；到了開元、天寶盛唐之際，銅鏡藝術步入成熟與創新期，風格由繁縟轉為自然優雅，構圖更趨精簡、圓潤且講求寫生，鏡形亦由傳統圓鏡發展出八流、八瓣的菱花形與葵花形鏡。