A Study of Mirror Inscriptions of the Later Han Period

Chinese bronze mirrors are highly appreciated by Chinese and Japanese archaeologists, or they are particularly useful for chronological studies. Aside from the actual esign, inscriptions can be found on a great many mirrors of the Han age. organized the Research Project on Chinese Mirror Inscriptions to make a safe nterpretation of all the inscriptions known so far, and to investigate the changes of the oetry style during 400 years of Han dynasty. Based on the analysis of the style, I divide he Later Han mirrors roughly into three periods. n the earlier half of Han Mirrors Period V, almost all the TLV mirror inscriptions are composed of lines of seven-character, and mention Shang-fang (尙方) as the factory of an Imperial Department where the mirror was made. These TLV mirrors gradually became decadence in the style of the decoration and the inscription, some craftsmen of the Shang-fang tried to set up their own bronzeworks, I call them Huai (淮) school. The inscriptions begin with the sentence translated ʻFamily Du (杜氏or other names) had this mirror madeʼ, and these craftsmen produced a new work in succession to arouse customer interest. In Han Mirrors Period VI, Guan-han (廣漢) school founded in Sichuan, created the motif of divinities and animals (Shen-shou 神獸), animal heads (Shou-shou 獸首) and eight phoenixs (Ba-feng 八鳳) mirrors. In the latter half of Han Mirrors Period VII, many mirror inscriptions are composed of lines of four-character which start with the sentence of a first person narrative translated ʻI have made the bright mirror ; secludedly I have refined the three measured metalsʼ. At the same time, some of the craftsmen migrated from Sichuan to Xuzhou (徐州) and Jiang-nan (江南) individually to produce different Shen-shou mirrors