Many bronze mirrors were cast in a large variety of shapes, sizes, and designs in the Goryeo dynasty. This aspect reflects the influence of Chinese bronze mirrors. That is, many Goryeo bronze mirrors were Chinese imports or Goryeo recasts(copies) base...
Many bronze mirrors were cast in a large variety of shapes, sizes, and designs in the Goryeo dynasty. This aspect reflects the influence of Chinese bronze mirrors. That is, many Goryeo bronze mirrors were Chinese imports or Goryeo recasts(copies) based on Chinese originals,and some of them were modified in part.
The bronze mirror with Dragon, Tree, and Palace designs, or 龍樹殿閣文鏡(Yong-Su-Jeon-Gak-Mun-Gyeong) is regarded as a representative Goryeo bronze mirror because they were designed and cast in Goryeo.
These mirrors are imbued with new thought of Goryeo and have several characteristics distinguishable from Chinese mirrors. In this thesis, I have analyzed these mirrors as a way to learn more about Goryeo taste and thought.
I have studied 48 bronze mirrors with Dragon, Tree, and Palace designs. They are all round. One can divide them into two types based on their decoration and the existence of a line between the inner and outer parts. The two types have different size ranges: Type 1 mirrors are 19.8cm to 21.8cm, while Type 2 mirrors are 18.6cm to 21cm. 16% of the 1248 and 3% of the 162 Goryeo bronze mirrors in a statistical database are larger than 20cm and heavier than 1000g. Bronze mirrors with Dragon, Tree, and Palace designs are belong to large and heavy bronze mirrors that take a small percentage of Goryeo bronze mirrors.
They make up the largest percentage(about 33%) among the mirrors with figural or narrative decoration, and especially 78% among the mirrors with figural or narrative decoration that are over 20cm.
Excavation information allows us to date this type of bronze mirror.
We can assume that Type 1 mirrors date from the late 11C and Type 2 mirrors date from the mid 12C. About 47% of them were found near Gaesung, that was the capital city in the Goryeo dynasty, and the rest of them were found in localities sporadically. This means they were centered in Gaesung, and expanded to other localities. Additionally,examples of this type of mirror have been found in Heilongjiang(黑龍江省) and Tsushima Island(對馬島), and it means that the range of trade in these mirrors was wide.
The Origins of motifs on the Bronze mirror with Dragon, Tree, and Palace designs are based on Chinese bronze mirrors, which are related to Lunar Palace myth and Taoism. However, the types and expressions of Goryeo motifs are certainly different form Chinese ones.
Motifs such as people, a palace, and a tree are expressed differently in Goryeo. Some motifs (including a dragon, a toad, clouds, a flame-shapedmani, and an expression of flame behind a rabbit) appear in the Goryeo style but not in the Chinese style.
The difference of motifs let us to read what Goryeo wanted to express newly. First, the added motifs, the clouds and the toad (asymbol of the moon) refer to the celestial sphere and lunar place. The people who ride clouds and the dragon that can ascend into heaven implies Taoism. Second, we can read Buddhism. The dragon can be regarded as one of the eight powerful spirits that protect Buddhism. The flame shape behind the rabbit is related to an old Buddhist story and the flame-shaped mani brightens a Buddhist world. These suggest that the Bronze mirror with Dragon, Tree, and Palace designs express Buddhism and Taoism that were prevalent in the Goryeo dynasty.
The stylistic feature of Type 1 is completed by some Chinese imports or Goryeo recasts. The composition of the Bronze mirror with Dragon, Tree, and Palace designs, however, is opposite from the Chinese style, and the Goryeo mirrors have new decorative motifs. It may indicates this bronze mirror was made by engraving an entirely new mold, instead of creating the mold from a Chinese model. Type 2 imitated Type 1, and the example of a Chinese bronze mirror(preservedat Gyungbuk University) into which a dragon shape was inserted shows that Bronze mirrors with Dragon, Tree, and Palace designs were widely liked in Goryeo.
Bronze mirrors with Dragon, Tree, and Palace designs are important types of Goryeo bronze mirrors that imply Goryeo taste andthought. Also, they display fine metal work and beautiful pictorial scenes.
But the most important point is the way that this type of mirror sublimates strong foreign influence in the distinguished way of the Goryeo dynasty.