Cleveland Museum of Art

Mirror Stand in the Shape of a Djeiran

Date: mid 1600s-early 1900s
Medium: bronze
Culture: China, Qing dynasty (1644-1911)
Department: Chinese Art
Institution: Cleveland Museum of Art

This mirror stand is the in shape of a recumbent djeiran , or Central Asian antelope. Commonly appearing on Sogdian silver from the 600s onward, the djeiran motif migrated via the trade routes to northern China. There, during the Jin and Yuan (1279–1368) dynasties, it was very popular and always depicted with the moon supported by clouds. Chinese writers often identify the djeiran as the mythical rhinoceros ( xi'niu ) that is said to gaze at the moon, or as the cow of Wu "panting upon seeing the moon." When the stand originally held a mirror, the animal would appear to be looking at the moon.

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