A small bronze mirror, locked away in storage at the Cincinnati Art Museum, had always seemed unremarkable. But the artifact had a secret hiding in plain sight.
Before the invention of today's glass mirrors, people from cultures around the world gazed into polished bronze, from ancient Egypt to the Indus Valley. The ancient art of Chinese magic mirrors was first developed during the Han dynasty, around 2,000 years ago, though they were also later made in Japan.To create the mysterious effect, artisans began by casting images, words or patterns onto one side of a bronze plate.
A second bronze plate, which is marked with the name of the Amitabha Buddha, is thought to have been soldered onto the back, concealing the image of the Buddha.The mirrors baffled Western scientists who encountered them in the 19th century. And while their optics are now, Sung said experts still don't know precisely how craftspeople worked the metal.
"No matter how much you can explain theoretically, it all depends on the master who polishes the surface which is tremendously difficult," she said."That's why they are so rare."Measuring about 8.5 inches in diameter, the museum's mirror was likely used as a religious ornament and may have hung in a temple or noble household. The museum is yet to decipher whether it originated in China or Japan, though Sung believes it is most likely the former.
The item was first recorded in the museum's Asian art collection in 1961, though the curator thinks it may have been acquired long before then. She also suspects that other institutions and collectors are in possession of magic mirrors without realizing. "I found a lot in online auctions that have a similar design to ours, but never say they're magic mirrors," she said, adding:"I believe there could be some mirrors out there that people don't even know are magic."
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