Collection record · Everyday wonders
Mirror with Phoenixes, Birds, Butterflies, and Floral Sprays
The collection record classifies this work as metalwork. It is dated 700s. Recorded culture or place: China, Tang dynasty (618-907).
Explore the object recordOBJECT RECORD
A closer look at the details.
- Museum title
- Mirror with Phoenixes, Birds, Butterflies, and Floral Sprays
- Date
- 700s
- Culture / origin
- China, Tang dynasty (618-907)
- Materials and technique
- bronze with silver and gold inlaid lacquer
- Dimensions
- Diameter: 19.2 cm (7 9/16 in.)
- Artist / maker
- Not specified by the museum
- Museum
- The Cleveland Museum of Art
- Accession number
- 1973.74
FROM THE MUSEUM
In the museum’s words
The following description is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art’s original English record.
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.
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Text and image sources
The Cleveland Museum of Art · Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund · CC0
The summary is based on public collection data. Refer to the museum’s latest record for the title, date and attribution.
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