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MEDIEVAL CHINESE MIRRORS FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE STATE
MUSEUM OF HISTORY OF UZBEKISTAN
Tokhir Norkobilov
Head of Arts and Ethnography Department
of the State Museum of History of Uzbekistan,
PhD, Senior Researcher
Annotation:
In this article are presented for the first-time mirrors from China which are stored
in collection of the State Museum of the history of Uzbekistan (Tashkent). On the basis of the
resulted analogies authors determine dating of mirrors, and also assort symbolics of images.
Key words:
Chinese mirrors, collection, Central Asia, hemispherical protrusion, collection, the
State Museum of History of Uzbekistan
The trade, economic and cultural ties between the peoples of Central Asia and China go back to
ancient times. This is also evidenced by numerous finds of Chinese bronze mirrors, which began
to be imported into Central Asia especially widely as a result of trade relations from the 2nd
century BC.
At present, the State Museum of History of Uzbekistan has several Chinese mirrors, most of
which are from the Han era and date back to the 1st century BC. - 1st century AD.
But in addition to these ancient mirrors, the Museum holds two Chinese mirrors from medieval
times.
Unfortunately, it is unknown where these two Chinese mirrors were found and where and when
they came to the museum. Most likely, these exhibits are from pre-1917 collections.
Here is a description of these mirrors.
Of undoubted interest among them is a round mirror with a handle, depicting a musician and
boys (fig. 1), Inventory No. 188/128. The mirror is made of yellowish bronze, cast, the handle is
half broken off. The mirror is 9 cm in diameter, 0.2-0.5 cm thick, the handle is 2.5 cm long and
1.6 cm wide.
The front side is flat, polished, and served as a reflective surface. The handle is edged with a rim.
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At the edge of the mirror there is a narrow protruding smooth rim, it outlines a buried relief
image, on which in the upper part on the right side there is an overhanging branch with eleven
fruits of a peach or apple tree. Under the tree are three small figures of children, apparently boys,
picking up fallen fruit from the ground. The first child - below, closer to the handle of the mirror
Fig. 1. Bronze mirror, China, XI-XIII cc.
Collection of the State Museum of History of Uzbekistan
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- is shown kneeling and picking fruit. The other two children are shown full-length: one of them
is standing in profile, with his left arm perpendicular to his torso and his right arm raised at the
level of his head; the other is shown in front, with his arms raised up. Clothing on the figures of
children consists of trousers and girt shirts. On the left side of the mirror is a seated man with his
legs half-bent, his left leg tucked under him and his right leg held out in front. The man's head is
turned to the left of him, towards the boys; on his head is an oval cap; a wedge-shaped beard is
marked on his face, the facial features are not traceable. His arms are bent at the elbows and
folded across his chest. With his right hand he is clasping some conical musical instrument
resembling a harp. On the left at waist level are two fluttering ribbons. In the background in the
distance some landscape is shown in relief with broken lines.
The second mirror (Fig. 2) is round, cast, diameter 10.2 cm, thickness 0.2-0.4 cm; Inventory No.
188/133.
The mirror is deformed. The front side is flat, polished, it served as a reflective surface. In the
centre of the back side, apparently, there was a hemispherical protrusion - handle with a
horizontal hole for hanging (the middle of the mirror, where the handle-loop was located, is
broken out). The centre of the mirror is flanked by three relief smooth circles 3.8, 4.8 and 6.3 cm
in diameter, two of which are strongly projecting, sloping, and one, located between them, is flat,
made in low relief. Then there is a circular band of inscription with poorly discernible, almost
Fig. 2. Bronze mirror, China, XI-XIII cc.
Collection of the State Museum of History of Uzbekistan
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erased hieroglyphic signs, framed on both sides by narrow relief lines. The rim is narrow, smooth,
sloping. There is a layer of oxide on the surface.
Let us consider the questions of typology, territorial affiliation and chronological definition of
the above-described mirrors.
An exact copy of our first Chinese mirror comes from South Siberia, from the Minusinsk Basin.
This mirror was found in the village of Kapterevo, Krasnoyarsk Krai and is stored in the local
history museum of Minusinsk; it is made of yellow metal, diameter is 8.7 cm [Lubo-Lesnichenko,
1975, p. 75, fig. 63, No. 153].
The absolute similarity of these mirrors - even their handles are broken off in the same way -
allows us to assume that they were made not only by one master, but maybe even cast in the
same mould. E.I. Lubo-Lesnichenko connects the scene depicted on the mirror with benevolent
symbolism, namely with the wish of longevity (peaches) and numerous male offspring (playing
Fig. 3. Bronze mirror, China, XI-XIII cc.
Collection of the Museum of Local History Minusinsk (Russia)
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boys). Having penetrated from India to China in Tang times, these images became widespread
[Lubo-Lesnichenko, 1975, pp. 26-27]. According to the type and technique of manufacture
Minusinsk mirror is dated by the author to the 11th-13th centuries.
The only thing in which we do not quite agree with E.I. Lubo-Lesnichenko is his interpretation
of the musical instrument played by the man as a lute. As it seems to us, it is rather a harp.
The Minusinsk museum has another such mirror (No. 5171, diameter 9 cm), which was
discovered near the village of Izykh. Two similar mirrors from the Minusinsk Basin are in the
collection of the State Hermitage Museum and the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography in
St. Petersburg [Lubo-Lesnichenko, 1975, pp. 75-76, nos. 154-156].
The published Chinese bronze mirror depicting boys playing is the first mirror of this type found
in Central Asia.
Our second mirror of Chinese origin also has analogues among the mirrors of the Minusinsk
Basin. It is, in particular, a mirror found in the village of Krivaya; it is made of white metal with
dark patina, diameter 11.2 cm [Lubo-Lesnichenko, 1975, fig. 107, No. 346]. The mirror dates
from the 11th-13th centuries and belongs to the Sung-Jing period. Such mirrors were widespread
in China in the 2nd-Ist centuries B.C. (early Han era), and were often copied afterwards. This
was explained by the increased interest in antiquity, the use of Han mirrors as amulets, etc.
[Lubo-Lesnichenko, 1975, pp. 34-35].
Fig. 4. Bronze mirror, China, XI-XIII cc.
Collection of the Minusinsk Museum of Local History (Russia)
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The main decoration of such mirrors are inscriptions in archaic Zhuan handwriting, which
express sorrow for the loss of the ruler's favour [Lubo-Lesnichenko, 1975, p. 34]. On the mirror
from the Minusinsk museum, unlike ours, the relief circles surrounding the centre and the
inscription on the surface have parallel stripes. On it the author managed to read two hieroglyphs:
jing bei - ‘to the north of the capital’ [Lubo-Lesenchenko [Lubo-Lesnichenko, 1975, p. 118].
Apparently, due to numerous castings, the inscription on the mirror is poorly recognisable.
As for the ways of making mirrors, it should be noted that they are all cast, but they were cast in
different ways: either in a rigid (stone) mould - these are products with a pronounced and well-
crafted relief, or in a clay mould made by impression of the finished mirror. These methods were
widely used in the 12th-14th centuries in Volga Bulgaria, in the Lower Volga region [Fedorov-
Davydov, 1994, p. 202; Nedashkovsky, 2000, p. 66].
Thus, on the basis of the comparative material we can draw the following conclusions on the
dating of the published mirrors.
Chronologically, both Chinese mirrors can be dated to the 11th-13th centuries.
Finds of Chinese mirrors of the 11th-13th centuries in Central Asia speak of the revival and
strengthening of old trade and cultural ties of the peoples inhabiting Uzbekistan with these
countries in the pre-Mongol, Mongolian times.
The spread of Chinese mirrors among the peoples of Central Asia and the penetration of Central
Asian artistic motifs into Chinese art belong to this time.
LITERATURE:
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несколько слов о металлических зеркалах, описанных другими // Известия Общества
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1900, с. 11-20.
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строительстве Большого Ферганского канала им. И.В. Сталина // Труды Института
истории и археологии. Т. IV. Материалы археологической экспедиции Большого
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7. Полякова Г.Ф. Изделия из цветных и драгоценных металлов // Город Болгар: Ремесло
металлургов, кузнецов, литейщиков. – Казань, 1996, с. 154-268.
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