Asian Art
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Mirror

8th–7th century B.C.E.

Bronze

other: 2 1/2 in. (6.4 cm)
other (Loop): 3/4 in. (1.9 cm)
Hobart and Edward Small Moore Memorial Collection, Gift of Mrs. William H. Moore
1953.27.27
The earliest Chinese mirror in the Gallery’s collection, this example features a standing hunter and six very stylized birds on the back. Though this imagery is derived from daily life, it may also have had a symbolic meaning; hunting provided food and thus was necessary for the health and stability of the community.
Geography: 
China
Status: 
On view
Culture: 
Chinese
Period: 
Western Zhou dynasty (1046–771 B.C.E.)
Classification: 
Tools and Equipment
Provenance: 

Edgar Gutmann, Berlin, 1931

Bibliography: 

Mimi Gardner Gates, The Communion of Scholars: Chinese Art at Yale, exh. cat. (New York: China House Gallery, 1982), 36–37, no. 8, ill.

Handbook of the Collections, exh. cat. (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Art Gallery, 1992), 285, ill.

George J. Lee, Selected Far Eastern Art in the Yale University Art Gallery (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1970), 8, no. 9, ill.

Carl Hentze, Mythes et symboles lunaires: Chine ancienne, civilisations anciennes de l’Asie, peuples limitrophes du Pacifique (Anvers, Belgium: Editions “De Sikkel”, 1932), pl. 3, A.

Note: This electronic record was created from historic documentation that does not necessarily reflect the Yale University Art Gallery’s complete or current knowledge about the object. Review and updating of such records is ongoing.