Overview

This dark brown mirror has a reflective face plated with tin. The knob surround, consisting of flower pistils spread out around the knob, swells into a mounded form. The inner surface of the straight-sided, medium-sized rim (towards the upper left in the image) is rough, and the rim itself is slightly diminished in height-flaws, which probably occurred during the casting process.

Around the latter half of the 12th century, a hedge came to supplement the standard composition of a tree spreading from the right to the left side of the pictorial space, and eventually this hedge was transformed into a decorative version of a cypress fence, as seen here. The stylistic sense of the period, when motifs derived from everyday life began to be represented in a more realistic manner, manifests itself strongly here. The main motif of the plum tree has been depicted with a thick trunk so that it does not sink into the background behind the fence, and the birds and flowers have been executed in higher relief. The sensitivity and careful thought of the mirror craftsman are evident in these details.