The mirror will be on display at the Cincinnati Art Museum starting July 23. Only three other Buddhist-themed “magic mirrors” are known to exist. The inscription on the mirror’s back spells out who was depicted: Amitabha, an important figure in various schools of East Asian Buddhism. Using a more powerful light later, the mirror’s reflection showed the image of a Buddha, rays of light emanating from his seated form. The conservator shone her cell phone light at the mirror. Last spring, she sought it out, along with a conservation expert. Sung recalled there was something “very similar” about it. It also featured a more complex style of Chinese script. The item in storage in Cincinnati was smaller than the ones held in museums in Tokyo, Shanghai and New York City. That curator, Hou-mei Sung, saw something resembling the examples from Edo-period Japan. The museum’s curator of East Asian art was researching “magic mirrors,” or rare ancient mirrors that in certain light show hidden images. It would have probably remained forgotten and dusty if a curator hadn’t put research and a remarkable memory together. “It’s not reflecting the decoration on the back of the mirror, but an image hidden inside the mirror, like a miracle.The small bronze mirror from the 15th or 16th century was gathering dust in a storeroom in the Cincinnati Art Museum’s East Asian Art collection. They were more technologically complex, showing no trace of their projected designs. The curator believes the Buddhist versions developed during the Ming Dynasty and were likely used for worship of Amitābha, with adherents chanting the invocation to gain rebirth into the Western Paradise after death. When sunlight hits the mirror shown here, it reflects a hidden image onto the nearby wall. These early designs were traditional, consisting of repetitive circular patterns and auspicious sayings, and they were used for ritual purposes. The origins of magic mirrors can be traced to the second century BCE, during the Han Dynasty, Sung says, when people held small mirrors in front of sunlight to cast decorations on their backs onto a wall. The Cincinnati Art Museum’s mirror, however, uses traditional characters, suggesting that it was made in China. Both date to the Edo period and feature the same six-character chant to Amitābha in simplified Chinese characters, which were commonly used in Japan. One is in the collection of the Tokyo National Museum and another in that of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In part because of their cryptic nature, however, few others have been identified. With no complete record to reference, Sung has been piecing together its history and significance by looking at other examples of magic mirrors. The mirror was accessioned in 1961 but entered the collection earlier. “To our surprise, we found that it does indeed project a hidden image of the Buddha.” “Just by chance I asked our object conservator to do a test, to shine a light on the back to see if it has this magic nature,” Sung says. wood, silk, silk brocade, Japanese paper dimensions: 36,0 cm / 14,2 inches high Price: US 560. time: around 1900's material: gofun (crushed oyster shell powder), metal. During her research she learned about Buddhist magic mirrors, which typically featured the same inscription: “Hail to Amitābha Buddha”-the Buddha of Infinite Light-on the back. Japanese antique doll depicting a Samurai Warrior on duty with a spear in his hand. Sung, who had last displayed the work in 2017 in an exhibition on Japanese arms and armour, revisited the mirror because she was on the hunt for more Buddhist objects to include in a rehang of the galleries. Front and back of the Buddhist bronze mirror, China or Japan (15–16th century).
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