Aesthetic of Brightness in Han Mirror Inscriptions

This article analyzes inscriptions cast on bronze mirrors of the Han dynasty (202 BCE-220 CE) to trace how the material property of brightness became emphatically aestheticized through an expressive rhetoric of radiance and brilliance, illumination and reflection. It argues that specular brightness as a defining feature of Han mirrors was exploited by artisans to attract potential buyers . In contrast to erudite philosophers who exclusively used the logograph ming 明 to modify the literary mirror in classical texts, artisans promoted their products by featuring terms such as guang 光, zhao 昭, hui 輝, yao 耀, qing 清, and jiao 皎 in rhythmic proses of various lengths . Examining how artisans advertised their high-tin bronzes as embodiments of solar and lunar light, the study shows that specular brilliance was linked to a range of cosmetic, moral, and religious powers, from illuminating the individual and the physical world to revealing the invisible world, whether of human emotions or demons . The article further argues that the inscribed verses, while often formulaic and clichéd, were neither mere decorations nor generic blessings . In fact, they meaningfully structured and communicated a particular aesthetic appreciation shared by both Han artisans and users . This well-developed semantic fascination with specular brightness thus marks these metal discs as a distinctive genre of the decorative arts in early imperial China

Aesthetics · Art · Literature · Chinese history and philosophy

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