Bronze inlaid mother-of-pearl mirror with rosette design, Tang dynasty (618-907), Shaanxi Archaeological Museum Collection.

The black lacquer used as the ground for the mirror, and the silver-white conch shell inlay was chosen for the contrast between the two colours, giving the mirror a magnificent lustre.

The studded mirror was a new category of bronze mirror in the Tang Dynasty, appearing in the Sheng Tang period and mainly popular in the Xuanzong period of the Tang Dynasty and the period after that.This mirror was unearthed from the tomb of Li Ling, a Tang Dynasty zongnu, the second daughter of Li Jin, the second daughter of Li Yuan, the second son of Tang Emperor Li Yuan, who died in the 24th year of the reign of Emperor Kaiyuan (A.D. 736).