My system is not decent

Chapter 1816 Inlaid red copper, portrait mirror

Ever since the mirror was invented, it was natural to think about making a large full-length mirror.

And some emperors and nobles can also get this kind of mirror.

However, it has been difficult for us to find such large bronze mirrors for a long time.

It was not until 1980 that a large rectangular bronze mirror with dragon patterns and many buttons before and after Emperor Wu of the Western Han Dynasty was unearthed in the No. [-] burial pit of the South Ancient Tomb of Wotuo Village, Dawu Commune, Linzi, Qilu, and we saw a large bronze mirror.

This mirror is 115.1 centimeters long and 57.5 centimeters wide. There are five ring-shaped buttons on the back, and two buttons are cast on each of the two short sides.

Around each ring button, decorated with persimmon-shaped patterns.

The back is also decorated with tangled patterns of Kui dragons, which are curled and interlaced freely.

This large bronze mirror was probably supported by pillars and a base, and the buttons on the back and sides of the mirror were probably used to fix it to the pillars and base.

This is the largest bronze mirror in the world. Chen Wenzhe has seen it before and learned the production techniques.

Among the techniques for making bronze mirrors, there is one that Chen Wenzhe is very familiar with, which is mirror grinding.

Because the bronze mirror not only has to be wiped clean from time to time, but also has to be polished frequently to keep it as bright as new and to illuminate the image.

In ancient times, mirror grinding was a specialized occupation in the past, just like craftsmen sharpening knives and scissors.

People who do this job hold several iron pieces about 5 inches long and 2 inches and 5 cents wide in their hands.

It seems to be clapping, beating along the street.

After the women hear it, they can come out to grind their mirrors. This is called "shocking the boudoir", which is recorded in "The Origin of Things".

This scene is depicted in ancient paintings.

In the painting, the mirror grinder is squatting on the ground, bending over the mirror stone to polish the bronze mirror.

A woman held a bronze mirror in her hand and stood aside waiting.

In July 1982, a polished mirror brick was unearthed in the joint burial tomb of Duke Yu of the Southern Song Dynasty in Tingzipo, Pengshan County, Sichuan Province.

The bricks are made of fine marl pottery, round in shape, 26 cm in diameter, 3 cm thick, and the polished surface is smooth and flat.

According to the excavation report, when the bricks were unearthed, there were still a little black powder and fine particles of mercury remaining on the grinding surface of the bricks.

The back of the brick is chiseled with three arc-shaped inclined grooves in the same direction from the outside to the inside, with a length of 7 cm to 9. cm and a width of 6 cm to 7 cm.

These mirrors are often richly decorated. After all, the more beautiful they are, the more sought after they are. This has been true since ancient times.

There are many kinds of decorative carving techniques on the bronze mirror, whether it is line carving, flat carving, relief carving, round carving, or hollow carving, they are all very delicate and vivid.

The decoration content is even more colorful, from geometric decoration to birds and flowers, from myths and legends to realistic patterns, heaven and earth, humans and gods, animals and plants, intertwined and juxtaposed, cleverly conceived and all-encompassing.

The Han Dynasty "Wu Zixu Portrait Mirror" unearthed in Shaoxing in the early years and now in the Maritime Museum is an excellent work.

This mirror has four mirrors on the back, which are divided into four regions and surrounded by patterns.

The first group has cast inscriptions "Yue Wang" and "Fan Li". The two sat on the ground and talked to each other, showing that Fan Zhu was making suggestions and letting Yue King Goujian use beauty tricks;
The second group is the two daughters in long skirts, with the cast inscription "Two Jade Girls", which shows that the king of Yue bribed Wu Dazai Bopi (sound pi) with the two jade girls;
The third group casts the inscription "Wu Wang". Sitting in the curtain, Wu Wang raises his left hand slightly, showing that Wu Wang listened to Dazai Bopi's slander and decided to bestow Wu Zixu's death;
In the fourth group, a man raised eyebrows, stared and gritted his teeth, held a long sword under his neck, and cast the inscription "Loyal minister Wu Zixu", showing that Wu Zixu was forced to kill himself.

The entire pattern is embossed, vivid, lifelike, and highly generalizable.

As early as the Shang Dynasty, in order to enhance the decorative effect of bronzes, craftsmen had already mastered the process of inlaying red copper.

During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the techniques of gold and silver inlay, red copper inlay, and turquoise inlay in metal fine processing were more exquisite.

They used red copper, gold, silver wires or pieces, and turquoise to embed in the utensils and inlaid them into different patterns and patterns.

Many such bronze mirrors have been unearthed, such as the "square mirror inlaid with turquoise and transparent patterns" unearthed in FL, Sichuan Province.

The mirror back of this mirror is in the shape of four Kui, with scale patterns and fine short lines, and turquoise is filled between the Kui patterns.

The "gold and silver staggered dragon pattern mirror" unearthed in Yangluojin Village has six scorpion dragons winding between the button base and the edge, and the dragon body has a "gold and silver staggered" pattern.

The edge is a cross scroll strip, and the embedded gold and silver threads are as thin as hair. The craftsmanship is extremely precise, which can be described as ingenious.

It is not only a masterpiece of exquisite craftsmanship, but also expresses the meaning of blessing with artistic decoration.

In short, the ancient mirror casting craftsmen, in the long-term production, have continuously accumulated experience in casting bronze mirrors, so that their skills have reached a proficient level.

With their wisdom and creative talent, they created many exquisite bronze mirrors, so that today's people cannot help admiring the splendid ancient bronze mirror culture when appreciating and studying these exquisite works of art.

Of course, even if there are mirrors of this level that have been handed down to the present, they usually only have one side.

So, what do modern people do if they want to collect one side?

Naturally, it must be imitated, so there are really many antique mirrors now.

There are many antique mirrors in Japan, so it is natural to identify the antique mirrors.

To identify antique mirrors, we must first understand the types of imitation mirrors and the era of imitation mirrors, especially to find out the characteristics and laws of imitation mirrors in different eras.

The so-called era of imitation mirrors includes two aspects. First, when did antique mirrors start to be produced in our country?Second, which era mirrors are imitated in the imitation mirrors?
One opinion holds that the antique bronze mirrors began in the Tang Dynasty, and after the Song Dynasty, court and folk antique mirrors became popular, and mirrors of various styles were imitated.

One opinion holds that the imitation of antique mirrors began in the Song Dynasty, while the Tang Dynasty did not imitate the Han mirrors, and the imitation of the Han mirrors began in the Song Dynasty.

Another opinion is that Song did not imitate Han mirrors, and that many Song imitation Han mirrors were actually Ming mirrors.

There are generally three ways to imitate mirrors, that is, using early mirrors to directly turn over the mold, using facsimiles to imitate mold making, and splicing broken mirrors.

The first method is simple and easier to make.

The patterns and inscriptions of the original mirrors are clear and the lines are smooth, while the mirrors that are directly turned over from the mold have the same mirror shape, but the decorations and inscriptions are often blurred, and the lines are not smooth and appear dull.

However, due to the age of some real mirrors, the production is not refined, and the inscriptions and decorations are also blurred.

In the case of the same mirror shape, decoration, and inscription, attention should also be paid to the copper quality of the bronze mirror and the thickness of the mirror body.

There are at least two situations where the original mirror is used as a copy to imitate the model.

One is to imitate the patterns and inscriptions of the original mirror on the model. Although the cast bronze mirrors are different in shape, the inscriptions and inscriptions are similar.

Second, although the original mirror was used as a copy, the mirror-casting craftsmen added decorations and inscriptions, and some of the decorations on the cast mirrors did not match the era of the inscriptions.

For example, it is clearly a mirror of the Han Dynasty, but the inscriptions that are common in mirrors of the Ming Dynasty are added;
There are even unequal shapes and decorations, which can be described as a low-level mistake.

However, the imitators are uneven, resulting in all kinds of imitations.

Of course, there are also good techniques. For example, there is another method of splicing broken mirrors, that is, bonding bronze mirrors.

(End of this chapter)