Minneapolis Institute of Art

Mirror

China

Date

2nd century CE

Medium

Bronze

Department

Asian Art

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

Numerous depictions of Xi Wangmu, the Queen Mother of the West, and her consort, King Father of the East, survive in the form of mirror decoration. On this mirror, the divine couple are accompanied by four fantastic dragons. Each sits on a throne carried on the back of a beast. This composition, of the two divinities on opposite sides of the mirror, is their most common arrangement and symbolizes the ancient Chinese philosophical concept of yin and yang (opposing, contrary forces that are actually interdependent and inseparable) as well as the deities’ residence in opposite realms of the universe, the West and East. Mirrors decorated with divine images and celestial dragons had symbolic value for followers of Daoism during the Han dynasty. A practitioner who possessed the mirror could hope for eternal life or protection from evil. China, Asia

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