id: 159178 accession number: 1995.365 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1995.365 updated: 2023-08-23 23:34:24.685000 Octafoil Mirror with Hunters and Prey, late 600s–early 700s. China, Tang dynasty (618-907). Bronze; diameter: 20 cm (7 7/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Drs. Thomas and Martha Carter in Honor of Sherman E. Lee 1995.365 title: Octafoil Mirror with Hunters and Prey title in original language: 狩獵菱花鏡 series: series in original language: creation date: late 600s–early 700s creation date earliest: 675 creation date latest: 725 current location: creditline: Gift of Drs. Thomas and Martha Carter in Honor of Sherman E. Lee copyright: --- culture: China, Tang dynasty (618-907) technique: bronze department: Chinese Art collection: China - Tang Dynasty type: Metalwork find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS --- measurements: Diameter: 20 cm (7 7/8 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: Circles of Reflection: The Carter Collection of Chinese Bronze Mirrors opening date: 2000-09-17T00:00:00 Circles of Reflection: The Carter Collection of Chinese Bronze Mirrors. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 17-November 26, 2000); China Institute Gallery, New York, NY (February 6-June 2, 2002); Elvehjem Museum of Art, Madison, WI (December 20, 2003-February 29, 2004). title: China through the Magnifying Glass: Masterpieces in Miniature and Detail opening date: 2022-12-11T05:00:00 China through the Magnifying Glass: Masterpieces in Miniature and Detail. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 11, 2022-February 26, 2023). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS --- PROVENANCE Drs. Thomas and Martha Carter, Madison, WI, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art date: ?–1995 footnotes: citations: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH date: 1995– footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: Four stylized mountains in diminutive scale represent the cardinal directions around the animal-shaped knob at the center of the mirror. digital description: wall description: Corrosion has covered this mirror's surface with an uneven layer of green patination. Otherwise, this medium-sized mirror is strong in impact and dynamic in movement. The border arrangement is typical, with eight compartments for four types of decoration arranged in pairs across the same axis. Other than the cloud scrolls, which have been radically transformed so as to be almost unrecognizable, the rest are fine portrayals of insects and plants—a typical arrangement for Tang mirrors, perhaps of the eighth century.

The chief focus, of course, lies in the inner circle, which has gained in size and dimension. At its center is a crouching beast. Action is most apparent in the sequence of the hunt, with hunters on horses, shooting with bow and arrow at the prey, or carrying a long lance for the attack. The prey includes bear, deer, rabbit, and boar—their size and pose being sufficiently varied. The insistence on horror vacui (fear of empty spaces) is apparent; wherever the likelihood of a vacant space exists, the maker of the mirror has inserted a plant to fill the void. The result is a fast-paced whirling motion that never ends. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Chou, Ju-hsi. Circles of reflection: the Carter collection of Chinese bronze mirrors. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2000. page number: Reproduced: cat. no. 63, pp. 71, 109, 123 url: Yen, Chuan-Ying. "The Decorative Motifs on Tang Dynasty Mirrors." Cleveland Studies in the History of Art 9 (2005): 1-23. page number: Mentioned and reproduced: P. 8, fig. 16 url: https://www.jstor.org/stable/20079750 --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1995.365/1995.365_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1995.365/1995.365_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1995.365/1995.365_full.tif