Mirror with four mythical beasts Warring States period (475–221 BCE).Bronze. H. 0.6 cm x Diam. 19.1 cm. The Avery Brundage Collection, B60B35+ © 2025 Asian Art Museum

Bronze mirrors began to be produced in China over four thousand years ago. By the end of China’s Bronze Age (about twentyfive hundred years ago), these mirrors had become a standard item in bronze production. They continued to be made in significant numbers until the end of the nineteenth century. The latest of the series displayed here was created about twelve hundred years ago.

Made of silvery bronze and cast without bubbles or other flaws, these mirrors have two surfaces: one highly polished, slightly convex, and reflective and the other decorated, often with religious subjects or scenes of ceremonial practices.