Cleveland Museum of Art

Mirror with Interlacing Floral Motifs and Twelve Zodiac Animals

Date

late 500s–early 600s

Medium

bronze

Culture

China, Sui dynasty (581-618)

Department

Chinese Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

The design of this mirror consists of a central knob and a series of concentric circular bands. The innermost band contains an eight-word inscription, with phrasing typical of earlier mirrors found in the Sui and early Tang periods: The mirror's light shows the man inside. May you live a long life and [constantly] renew yourself. Floral branches interlace in the second band. The controlled undulation produces five segments. The third band is divided into twelve parts, which house the zodiac animals in the clockwise sequence: rat, ox, tiger, hare, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, cock, dog, and boar. A sunken ring of the well-known sawtooth design continues to be effective, before the undecorated rim sets the final enclosure.

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