Cleveland Museum of Art

Mirror with Phoenixes, Birds, Butterflies, and Floral Sprays

Date: 700s
Medium: bronze with silver and gold inlaid lacquer
Culture: China, Tang dynasty (618-907)
Department: Chinese Art
Institution: Cleveland Museum of Art

This extremely rare pingtuo mirror is coated with a lacquer base inlaid with paper-thin sheets of silver and gold. The decorative patterns, especially the floral arabesques and the phoenixes and birds holding branches in their mouths, have a pronounced Persian and Central Asian flavor. Luxury items like this had been used by the Tang emperor as diplomatic gifts. A similar example from the Japanese imperial collection of Emperor Shōmu was donated by Empress Kōmyō in 756 to the Shōsō-in repository of the Tōdai-ji Temple, Nara, Japan. Mirrors like this have a polished side for viewing and a decorated side with a central knob for lifting.

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