Mirror with handle

Mirrors were believed in ancient times to possess magical powers that could ward off evil and were thus regarded as potent talismans. Mirrors were introduced to Japan from China during the Yayoi period (ca. 4th century B.C.–3rd century A. D.). In Buddhist practice, mirrors were placed in front of icons or buried with other objects beneath pagodas. Over time the mirror became an emblem of power and was chosen, together with the sword and the magatama (curved jewel), to symbolize the legitimacy and authority of the emperor.

Japanese mirrors made prior to the Late Heian period were modeled closely after Chinese prototypes, which had a knob set into the center of the reverse side through which a silk cord, for hanging the mirror, was threaded. A new type of mirror popular in Southern Song China supplanted this traditional shape after it was introduced to Japan in the late Muromachi period. The new type had a short handle attached to the circular plate, rendering the knob obsolete and enabling a more unified design. Handled mirrors were small at first, with a narrow shaft that was generally longer than the mirror's diameter. In the late seventeenth century, the diameter of the plate increased as the handle, in inverse proportion, became shorter (fig. 49).[1]

This example is one of the new type. A copper pheasant perches on the branch of a chestnut oak tree, which bends to follow the contour of the mirror. Tiny silver particles enliven the leaves of the tree, as well as the bird's red-lacquer feathers and tail. The bold simplicity of the design echoes the brilliant decorative style that was the hallmark of the earlier Momoyama period. At the left is a signature in relief that reads "Tenka ichi Inbe no kami" (Number One under the Sky, Lord of Inbe Province). The brazen "Tenka ichi" was a title devised by the general Oda Nobunaga (1534–1582) to encourage indigenous crafts. Accordingly, the finest practitioner in each of the various crafts-lacquerware, ceramics, No mask carving, metalwork was allowed to bestow the honorific upon himself. Its indiscriminate use, however, soon made it meaningless, and in 1682 it was banned.

Bronze mirrors with maki-e decoration are extremely rare. Only one other example, in a Japanese collection, is known.[2] Almost identical in design, it too bears the "Tenka ichi Inbe no kami" signature, known to have been used only on mirrors that date from the Kanbun era (1661–72).[3]

[Miyeko Murase 2000, Bridge of Dreams]

[1] On Japanese mirrors, see Nakano Masaki 1969; and Tanaka Migaku 1981, pp. 60–62.
[2] Narukami Yoshio 1968, no. 1.
[3] Nakano Masaki 1969, p. 110. Inbe (or Inaba) is part of modern Tottori Prefecture. Its use, however, does not imply that the artist lived there, because such names were often chosen at random.

Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation , New York (until 2015; donated to MMA)

Richmond. Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. "Jewel Rivers: Japanese Art from The Burke Collection.," October 25, 1993–January 2, 1994.

Santa Barbara Museum of Art. "Jewel Rivers: Japanese Art from The Burke Collection.," February 26, 1994–April 24, 1994.

Minneapolis Institute of Arts. "Jewel Rivers: Japanese Art from The Burke Collection.," October 14, 1994–January 1, 1995.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Masterpieces of Japanese Art from The Mary Griggs Burke Collection," March 30–June 25, 2000.

Minneapolis Institute of Arts. "Post-renovation opening exhibition: Japanese galleries," April 11, 2006–January 17, 2007.

Murase, Miyeko, Il Kim, Shi-yee Liu, Gratia W. Nakahashi, Stephanie Wada, Soyoung Lee, and David Ake Sensabaugh. Art Through a Lifetime: The Mary Griggs Burke Collection. Vol. 2, Japanese Objects, Korean Art, Chinese Art. [New York]: Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation, [2013], p. 151, cat. no. 822.