Minneapolis Institute of Art

Mirror with Cosmological Design

Korea

Date

12th-13th century

Medium

Bronze

Department

Asian Art

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

This mirror is a veritable map of the Korean cosmos with a central celestial frog surrounded by the divine animals of the four directions—the White Tiger of the West, Black Tortoise of the North, Azure Dragon of the East, and Vermillion Phoenix of the South. Successively larger bands depict the eight trigrams, the ten heavenly stems and twelve earthly branches, the twenty-eight lunar mansions, and the twenty-four solar terms. Finely cast bronze mirrors like this one were a standard luxury good among aristocratic men and women in early Korea. The fronts of the mirrors were polished to achieve a reflective surface, while the backs were cast in decorative relief and organized around a central domed eyelet to accommodate a cord. As magical solar disks, they were also frequently placed in tombs in the belief that they could illuminate the darkness. Asia

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