Weiner Mihályné szerk.: Az Iparművészeti Múzeum Évkönyvei 9. (Budapest, 1966)

HOPP FERENC MÚZEUM — MUSÉE FERENC HOPP - Ferenczy, László: Chinese Bronze Mirrors from the Han Period

Fig. 2. Fragment of ts'ao yeh mirror of them, and brush-like petals arranged by twos next to them. Double leaves bend out at the corners of the square. The rim of 16 arcs is thicker than the base. The mirror is in good condition; minor casting unevennesses can be seen. The main ornamental elements of ts'ao yeh mirrors are : the inscription in the square band, the four nipples, the leaves and the brush-like petals". This term was introduced by Karlgren who traced the development of this pattern from the petal ornament arranged on long stalks. This can actually be found already on the shou-chou mirrors he ranged into category ,,C". On mirrors of the type „E" it is more complex in form and assumes the ,, brush like" shape at the ,,F" type.

10 Karlgren dated the type „E" from 250—200 B.C. and the type „F" from the beginning of the Han period. The later type „K", including our present mirror, presents a distorted and simplified form of this decoration which is described as a bird with spread wings on account of the resemblance. On some of these mirrors there is a small ear instead of the large central knob characteristic of the Han period. This deformed brush-like pattern can be found on some early shou-chou mirrors with TLV decoration too.

11 Karlgren ranged most of the „K" type mirrors into the 2nd century B.C. and supposed that the pieces with large knobs were still manufactured in the 1st century B.C. The subsequent development of ts'ao yeh mirrors was summarized by Bulling.

12 Thus, we may take the following factors into consideration for dating our piece : the characters of the inscription are nearly all angular, a feature indi10 Karlgren: Huai and Han. BMFEA. No. 13. p. 101. Pis. 51-52. 11 ibid. PI. 51. F 1., 2 and PI. 52. F 5., 6; Bulling: The decoration ... PI. 8., 9. 12 ibid. p. 23.