The first mirror

When we use glass make-up mirrors every day, do you think of what kind of mirrors our ancestors used? Today's glass make-up mirrors are only available in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Before that, our ancestors used a copper basin (called "Jian" in ancient times) to hold water. Later, there were bronze mirrors and iron mirrors. Iron mirrors are difficult to spread for a long time. Copper mirrors are bronze make-up mirrors made of copper, tin and lead alloys 。

The earliest bronze make-up mirror is an ancient utensil made of bronze, which is also a fine handicraft.

At present, the earliest bronze mirrors are unearthed from the tombs of Qijia culture about 4000 years ago. So far, two surfaces have been found, one is a plain mirror, the other is a star shaped mirror, both of which are round.

Bronze make-up mirror throughout ancient and modern times

From the Warring States period to the Qin, Han, Sui and Tang Dynasties, song, yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties. The shapes and patterns of bronze mirrors in different times are various, and the casting is exquisite. It is a wonderful flower in the ancient bronze culture, with high archaeological and collection value.

With bronze as a mirror, you can straighten your clothes; with history as a mirror, you can know the ups and downs; with people as a mirror, you can see the gains and losses.

Most of the make-up mirrors in the Warring States period were plain (string) mirror, geometric mirror, plant mirror and animal mirror.

Most of the mirrors in Han Dynasty were made up of Pan Jue pattern mirror, even arc pattern inscription mirror, grass spit pattern mirror, double circle inscription mirror, four breast beast mirror, regular mirror, deformed West leaf pattern mirror, god beast mirror, portrait mirror, Phoenix and dragon pattern mirror.

The Sui and Tang Dynasties make-up mirrors are mainly four gods and twelve zodiac mirrors, auspicious animal mirrors, auspicious animal grape mirrors, flower and bird mirrors, auspicious flower mirrors, immortal figures mirrors, special craft mirrors, auspicious animal Luan bird mirrors, Panlong mirrors, eight trigrams mirrors and ten thousand character mirrors.

Most of the make-up mirrors in Song Dynasty are: plain mirror, inscription mirror, flower mirror, immortal mirror, eight trigrams mirror and auspicious inscription mirror

In the yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, the mirror casting industry tended to decline. Except for more changes in shape, there were more handle mirrors, less innovation in patterns and patterns, and less exquisite designs.

More than 300 years ago, Venice was the center of the world's glass industry. The Willis made the world's first glass cosmetic mirror with mercury.

Principle of cosmetic mirror

Light travels in a straight line. When we block the way of light with a mirror, we will find that light changes the direction of propagation.

When light touches the mirror, it changes the direction of propagation and is reflected back. This phenomenon is called reflection of light, which is also called reflection. The reflected light also propagates in a straight line.