Mirrors are magical objects in all the various East Asian religions. They were made of bronze with a high tin content, with one side smooth and highly polished to give a good reflection, and the other side decorated in some appropriate way. Usually a cord with a tassel was tied through a hole in the central knob on the back, so that you could hold the mirror up to see your face (or perhaps turn it outward to ward off evil spirits).

This one has calendrical themes that originate in early China and could be called Daoist, but they appear in Buddhist art too. It’s hard to tell what the central animal that forms the knob actually is, but if it’s a lion, that is definitely a Buddhist influence. (Lions are not known in East Asia, but they are a symbol of royalty in north India, where the historical Buddha lived, and so they became a symbol of Buddhism; they are also a symbol of the Manichean religion, originally from Persia, that became popular in ChIna during the Tang dynasty.)

The mirror shows five different sets of symbols, arranged in clockwise patterns that represent various geographical or calendrical cycles. It has been photographed with the cycles starting at the top (representing north, midnight, January, etc.).

Around the central knob are the Chinese animals of the four directions: the Black Warrior (turtle and snake) of the North, the Green Dragon of the East, the Red Bird of the South, and the White Tiger of the West. Then come the Eight Trigrams of the Book of Changes, interspersed with characters for 8 of the 10 Stems, followed by the 12 Zodiac Animals (also called the 12 Branches). In the past they could represent hours, days, months, or years; today they most often represent years. Here, they are shown in the form of human figures with animal heads, holding weapons. The easiest to spot is the Snake, at about 5 o’clock if you imagine the mirror as a clock dial. These small animal-headed figures look very similar to the large sculptures that were placed around the outside of the tombs of the kings of Unified Silla, as protectors for the deceased monarch and by extension, the whole country of Korea. In Buddhist art, the animals correspond to the 12 Heavenly Generals who are guardians in the retinue of the Buddha of Medicine and also of the Boddhisattva of the Big Dipper.

In the next circle after the 12 Animals in semi-human form are 28 animals drawn in their natural form, including the 12 Zodiac Animals plus 16 more. These 28 animals represent the days of a lunar month. You can see the Snake next to the zodiac Snake in the inner circle, with a centipede beside it; unfortunately most of the other animals are blurry, so it is hard to tall what they are.

Finally, in the outer circle are Chinese characters representing the 24 seasons of the year. Overall, the many symbols suggest that the mirror is a powerful tool for deflecting evil at any time or place.

---