My system is not decent

Chapter 1349 Blue and transparent enamel painted gold Xi character handle mirror
Bronze mirror is a mirror made of copper in ancient times, also known as bronze mirror.

In ancient times, people used water to reflect their faces, and after the invention of bronze ware, they used copper basins to hold water to reflect their shapes.

In pre-Qin works such as "Shangshu", "Guoyu" and "Zhuangzi", it is mentioned that the ancients "in view of water".

"Shuowen·Jinbu" interprets "Jian" as "basin", so it can be said that the basin (Jian) ​​holding water is the earliest mirror.

With the advent of alloy technology, the history of using copper and tin or silver-lead to make copper mirrors began.

Bronze mirrors are generally made into a round or square shape, with inscriptions and patterns cast on the back and buttons for wearing them, and the front is polished with lead and tin for clear reflection.

A small bronze mirror with a history of more than 4000 years was unearthed from the tomb of the Qijia culture. Its shape and decoration are relatively primitive, and it should be the earliest bronze mirror known in archaeological materials.

Bronze mirrors from the Shang, Western Zhou, and Spring and Autumn periods were all found sporadically, and they became popular in the Warring States period, and their output increased greatly.

By the Han Dynasty, due to the large demand of daily life, coupled with the rapid economic prosperity after the middle of the Western Han Dynasty, the production of bronze mirrors had a qualitative leap.

The bronze mirrors are of excellent craftsmanship, heavy in texture, with rich and varied inscriptions and patterns on the back of the mirrors.

After the two peaks of development in the Tang and Song Dynasties, in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, with the birth of modern glass, bronze mirrors gradually faded out of the historical stage.

The bronze mirror discovered this time must be from the Ming and Qing Dynasties, which is considered to be the last period of bronze mirrors.

The production of bronze mirrors in this period is even more declining. In addition to traditional styles, patterns of double fishes, double dragons, and stories of characters such as Liu Yi's biography are relatively new styles.

However, the bronze mirrors at this time were rough in production, and most of them only had yearly inscriptions without ornamentation.

During this period, especially in the Ming Dynasty, imitation of Han mirrors and Tang mirrors was very popular.

Most of the imitated bronze mirrors are the Liubo pattern mirrors of the Han Dynasty and the auspicious animal grape mirrors of the Tang Dynasty.

The imitation bronze mirrors are generally small in size, and the decorations are blurred, and they no longer have the former style of Han and Tang bronze mirrors.

Of course, the types of imitation mirrors in different eras are different. Even if it is the same type of mirror, imitation in different eras has different emphases.

In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, it can be said that they needed to imitate a lot of ancient bronze mirrors, and even the mirrors of the previous dynasties, they all imitated!
For example, imitating the Han Dynasty, imitating the Tang Dynasty, imitating modern bronze mirrors and so on.

Therefore, there were many imitation mirrors in the Ming, Qing and the Republic of China, and the fashion of antiques was very strong. Both the court and the people imitated, and mirrors in all periods were imitated.

At this time, most of the large pile of mirrors in front of Chen Wenzhe were imitation bronze mirrors.

For example, imitate the sun mirror, Zhaoming mirror, rule mirror, panlong mirror, dragon and tiger mirror, double phoenix mirror, portrait mirror, panchi mirror of the Warring States period.

It imitates the sea beast grape mirror, flower and bird mirror, and curved beast mirror in Tang mirrors.

Imitation of Song and Jin's character story mirrors, Huzhou mirrors, Pisces mirrors, and inscription mirrors.

Judging from the types of imitation mirrors in each of the above eras, there are inscription mirrors, rule mirrors, portrait mirrors, and dragon and tiger mirrors in the Han Dynasty such as Sunlight and Zhaoming.

Sea beast grape mirrors, auspicious beast mirrors, and flower and bird mirrors from the Tang Dynasty.

Huzhou mirrors and Bagua mirrors of the Song Dynasty are all important types of mirrors imitated by later generations.

Among them, the sunlight and Zhaoming mirror of the Han Dynasty have been imitated in almost all dynasties.

Bronze mirrors in different eras have different characteristics and are all influenced by politics, economy, ideology, culture and customs at that time.

It is generally believed that although imitation mirrors have the characteristics of real mirrors, they are not products of that era after all, and must more or less reveal certain characteristics of the era in which imitation mirrors lived.

Therefore, although the bronze mirrors of the Ming Dynasty are all imitated from ancient times, there are many types of them!
When encountering such a bronze mirror, Chen Wenzhe naturally had to take a good look at it, because it was the first time Chen Wenzhe had obtained such an antique as the bronze mirror.

However, compared with bronze mirrors, glass mirrors were obviously more precious in the late Ming Dynasty.

Besides, the number of mirrors in the sunken ship must be less glass mirrors, because it is easier to break.

Just because glass products are easier to break, Chen Wenzhe handles them with care and with care.

After all the glass mirrors were separated, what was placed in front of him was the most special glass mirror.

After checking for a while, Chen Wenzhe found that this mirror was not ordinary, because he saw gold inscriptions on it.

After cleaning it carefully, I found that it was still painted with enamel and gold!

This is a blue and transparent enamel mirror painted with gold Xi characters. It should be a creation of the Ming Dynasty, which is very rare.

In the Ming Dynasty, glass mirrors were very rare, not to mention, this also used the technique of enamel and gold painting.

This mirror is 27.9 cm long and 12.5 cm wide, and it is also a handle mirror.

It consists of two parts: the mirror body and the mirror handle.

The body of the mirror is elliptical, and the front is a glass mirror for illuminating the face;

On the back of the mirror, the enamel colored "卍" pattern is used as the ground, with the word "囍" embedded in the middle, surrounded by eight treasure patterns.

A transparent blue enamel gold-painted flower mirror ring is embedded along the mirror edge to fix the mirror surface and mirror back.

The handle of the mirror is a stick-shaped straight handle, and the mirror body and the mirror handle are connected by malachite green dyed teeth with curly grass pattern and carved melon-style coral beads.

The bottom of the handle is inlaid with a gold-plated copper hoop and tied with a yellow silk tassel with coral beads.

Such a mirror is likely to be a tribute to the imperial court.

Otherwise, it is 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. This mirror is painted with enamel, transparent enamel and other techniques.

If I talk about it in detail, the craftsmanship on this mirror is too much.

In addition to enamel crafts, there are also gold-painting, painting, ivory carving and dyeing, copper-plated chisel carving, inlaying and other crafts.

These crafts will make the mirror beautiful in shape, bright in color, vivid in pattern, and imply auspiciousness.

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 flower lotus pattern is likely to contain the glass mirror, but not the bronze mirror.

Sure enough, this enamel-painted gold-painted glass mirror fits right into the black-bottomed white mirror box, without gaps, and fits right into it.

"This glass mirror is 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 that there are more valuable ones?" Gao Qijing looked at some porcelain that Chen Wenzhe had specially selected.

There are blue and white flowers, underglaze red, and five colors.

Mostly plates, bowls, saucers and bottles, of course there are some oddly shaped objects, mostly like statues.

Which of the things here is not precious?

"It's okay to say it's worth money, but it should be said which one is more precious, the most precious!" Chen Wenzhe said with a smile.

"Then, which one is more precious?"

"How should I say this? If it weren't for the large number of dishes here, all of these are precious, even a glass mirror is very precious." Chen Wenzhe said with a smile.

(End of this chapter)