Polished metal mirrors, which were often ornately decorated on the non-reflective side, were a popular trade object, along with other bronze ornaments, exported from China and exchanged along the Silk Roads. Finds from archaeological sites across the Silk Roads indicate that metal mirrors typically came in three different forms. It wasn’t until the 1st century CE that glass began to be used to make mirrors with the advent of the invention of soda-lime glass and glass blowing techniques. Later mirrors of polished copper were made in Mesopotamia around 4000 BCE and in Ancient Egypt around 3000 BCE. In China bronze mirrors were manufactured from around 2000 BCE with some of the earliest examples produced by the Qijia culture (2200 – 1600 BCE). Metal mirrors remained the norm in the ancient world and throughout the Middle Ages. Later, a highly reflective alloy of copper and tin was used in mirrors until the invention of glass and a use which may have originated in China or the Indian Subcontinent, but these were fairly hard to produce and were typically owned by the elite. Throughout history mirrors have been made from a wide range of different materials. The first proto-mirrors were pools of still water which could act as reflective surfaces. By the Bronze Age (3200 - 600 BCE) mirrors were made in many different regions by polishing metal disks made from bronze, copper, or silver. Some of the first man-made mirrors, in this case pieces of highly polished obsidian stone, came from the Anatolian Peninsula around 6000 BCE. In the regions encompassed by the Silk Roads mirrors not only functioned as personal objects of practical use but were also associated with different funerary rites and played a role in various rituals and some forms of entertainment. In particular the different shapes, designs, and decorative features of personal handheld mirrors used to look at one’s own reflection can help chart the aesthetic developments of various cultures as well as reveal their interconnections and exchanges.
Mirrors, objects which reflect an image, have a wide range of both practical and symbolic uses, and as such can provide considerable insight into the artistic and other cultural values of various societies across Eurasia.
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