Chapter 1,348 Blue transparent enamel mirror with the word 'Happiness' in gold
Bronze mirror is a mirror made of copper in ancient times. Bronze mirror is also called bronze mirror.
In ancient times, people used water to reflect their faces. After the invention of bronze, they used copper basins to hold water to reflect their faces.
In pre-Qin works such as "Shangshu", "Guoyu" and "Zhuangzi", it was mentioned that the ancients "viewed water".
"Shuowen Jinbu" interprets "jian" as "basin", so it can be said that the basin (jian) containing water is the earliest mirror.
With the emergence of alloy technology, the history of using copper and tin or silver-lead to make bronze mirrors began.
Bronze mirrors are generally made into a round or square shape, with inscriptions and patterns cast on the back and attached with buttons for fastening. The front is polished with lead and tin to make it shine, so that you can see your face clearly.
A small bronze mirror unearthed from a tomb of the Qijia Culture is more than 4,000 years old. Its shape and decoration are relatively primitive. It should be the earliest bronze mirror known in archaeological data.
Bronze mirrors from the Shang Dynasty, the Western Zhou Dynasty and the Spring and Autumn Period have all been found sporadically. During the Warring States Period, they became popular and production increased greatly.
By the Han Dynasty, due to the large demands of daily life and the rapid economic prosperity after the middle of the Western Han Dynasty, the production of bronze mirrors had undergone a qualitative leap.
The bronze mirrors are made with excellent craftsmanship, thick texture, and rich and diverse inscriptions and patterns on the backs of the mirrors.
After two development peaks in the Tang and Song dynasties, and in the Ming and Qing dynasties, with the birth of modern glass, bronze mirrors gradually emerged from the historical stage.
What was discovered this time must be a bronze mirror from the Ming and Qing Dynasties, which is considered the last period in which bronze mirrors existed.
During this period, the production of bronze mirrors was even more in decline. In addition to traditional styles, there were newer styles such as Pisces pattern, Double Dragon pattern, and character stories such as Liu Yi's biography.
However, the bronze mirrors at this time were crudely made, and most of them only had chronological inscriptions but no decorations.
During this period, especially in the Ming Dynasty, the trend of imitating Han mirrors and Tang mirrors was very popular.
Most of the imitation bronze mirrors are Liubo pattern mirrors from the Han Dynasty and auspicious animal grape mirrors from the Tang Dynasty.
Imitation bronze mirrors are generally smaller in shape and have unclear decorative patterns. They no longer have the former style of Han and Tang bronze mirrors.
Of course, the types of imitation mirrors in each era are different. Even if it is the same type of mirror, imitation in different eras also has different emphases.
By the Ming and Qing Dynasties, it can be said that there were many ancient bronze mirrors that they needed to imitate. They even imitated mirrors from previous dynasties!
For example, imitate the Han Dynasty, imitate the Tang Dynasty, imitate the modern bronze mirrors, etc.
Therefore, there were many imitation mirrors in the Ming, Qing and Republic of China periods, and the trend of imitating antiques was very strong. Both the court and the people imitated mirrors from all periods.
At this time, most of the large number of mirrors in front of Chen Wenzhe were imitation bronze mirrors.
For example, they imitate the sun mirror, Zhaoming mirror, rule mirror, panlong mirror, dragon and tiger mirror, double phoenix mirror, portrait mirror and panchi mirror from the Warring States period.
Imitation of the sea animal grape mirror, flower and bird mirror, and curved animal mirror in Tang Dynasty mirrors.
Imitation of the character story mirror, Huzhou mirror, Pisces mirror, and inscription mirror of the Song and Jin Dynasties.
Judging from the types of imitation mirrors in each of the above eras, there are inscription mirrors, regular mirrors, portrait mirrors, and dragon and tiger mirrors such as the Nikuang and Zhaoming mirrors in the Han Dynasty.
Sea animal grape mirror, auspicious animal mirror, flower and bird mirror from the Tang Dynasty.
The Huzhou mirror and Bagua mirror of the Song Dynasty are all important types of mirrors imitated by later generations.
Among them, the Sunlight and Zhaoming Mirrors of the Han Dynasty were imitated by almost all dynasties.
Bronze mirrors from different eras have different characteristics, and will be affected by the politics, economy, ideology, culture and customs of that time.
It is generally believed that although the imitation mirror has the characteristics of a real mirror, it is not a product of that era after all, and it must more or less reveal certain characteristics of the era in which the imitation mirror is located.
Therefore, although the bronze mirrors of the Ming Dynasty are all imitations of ancient times, there are many types!
Encountering such a bronze mirror, Chen Wenzhe naturally wanted to take a closer look, because this was the first time for Chen Wenzhe to obtain such an antique as a bronze mirror.
However, compared to bronze mirrors, glass mirrors were obviously more precious in the late Ming Dynasty.
Besides, the number of mirrors in sunken ships must be fewer glass mirrors, because they are more easily broken.
Because glass products are easier to break, Chen Wenzhe handles them gently and with caution.
When all the glass mirrors were separated, what was placed in front of him was the most special glass mirror.
After examining it for a while, Chen Wenzhe discovered that this mirror was not ordinary, because he saw gold tracing on it.
After cleaning it carefully, I found that it was still enamel painted with gold!
This is a blue and transparent enamel mirror with the word "xi" in gold. It should be a creation of the Ming Dynasty, which is very rare.
During the Ming Dynasty, glass mirrors were very rare, not to mention the use of enamel and gold tracing techniques.
This mirror is 27.9 cm long and 12.5 cm wide. It is also a mirror.
It consists of two parts: the mirror body and the mirror handle.
The mirror body is oval in shape, with a glass mirror on the front for looking at the face;
The back of the mirror has an enamel "Swastika" pattern as the ground, with the word "Xi" embedded in the middle, and surrounded by eight treasure patterns.
A transparent blue enamel gold floral mirror ring is embedded along the edge of the mirror to fix the mirror surface and back.
The mirror handle is a stick-shaped straight handle, and the mirror body and mirror handle are connected by curly grass pattern, malachite green dyed teeth and carved melon-style coral beads.
The bottom of the handle is inlaid with a gold-plated copper hoop and tied with yellow silk thread spikes with coral beads.
Such a mirror was probably a tribute presented to the imperial court.
Otherwise, it would be impossible to use various materials such as glass, copper, gold, ivory and coral in the production of mirrors.
The most important thing is the craftsmanship issue. This mirror has applied techniques such as painted enamel and transparent enamel.
If we talk about it in detail, there are too many craftsmanships used on this mirror.
In addition to enamel technology, there are also techniques such as gold tracing, painting, ivory carving and dyeing, copper plating, chiseling, and inlay.
These techniques will make the mirror beautiful in shape, bright in color, vivid in pattern, and implying good luck.
From this we can see the importance attached to glass mirrors, and it can be seen that glass mirrors were extremely precious in ancient times.
Therefore, Chen Wenzhe personally believes that this Cizhou kiln porcelain mirror box with white ground and black lotus pattern is likely to contain this glass mirror, but not a bronze mirror.
Sure enough, this enamel gold-plated glass mirror fit right into the black-backed white flower mirror box. There was no gap and it fit perfectly.
"Is this glass mirror the most precious?" Gao Qijing really felt very strange this time.
Chen Wenzhe was also a little surprised, but not surprised.
"Among these mirrors and mirror boxes, this pair should be considered the most precious thing!" Chen Wenzhe said.
"Does that mean there are more valuable ones?" Gao Qijing looked at some porcelains specially selected by Chen Wenzhe.
There are blue and white flowers, underglaze red, and multicolored ones.
Most of them are plates, bowls, dishes and bottles, but there are also some strange-shaped objects, most of which look like statues.
Which of the things here is not precious?
"It's okay to say it's valuable, but it's more important to say which one is more precious, the most precious!" Chen Wenzhe said with a smile.
"Then, which one is more precious?"
"How do you say this? If it weren't for the large number of dishes and dishes here, they are all precious. Even a glass mirror is very precious." Chen Wenzhe said with a smile.