Decorative style of Tang mirror

The decorative pattern on the back of the Tang mirror, its style is smooth and gorgeous, and its material is changed to artificial deification mode, with free realism or stories as the mainstay, and its expression method is also changed from chaos to freshness and elegance.

The subject matter of bronze mirrors in the early Tang Dynasty is mainly auspicious animals, with rich and lively shapes. The most striking thing is the marine animal grape mirror, which takes high-fleshed embossed grapes as the theme and is decorated with marine animals, birds, bees, butterflies and flowers. The decorative patterns are gorgeous and complicated. There is also a treasure pattern, which is a decorative flower pattern made by artistic treatment of some natural flowers (mainly lotus flowers).

In the mid-Tang Dynasty, the decorative patterns of bronze mirrors were novel in style and had a wide range of themes, with flowers and birds occupying the main position. In addition, the theme of character stories has also emerged in large numbers. There are mainly bird patterns, dragon patterns and character story patterns in this period.

In the late Tang dynasty, the decorative patterns of bronze mirrors tended to be simple and rough, losing the magnificent style of bronze mirrors in the prosperous Tang dynasty. During this period, decorative patterns with religious colors were particularly popular.