CNN reports on an unexpected discovery in the Cincinnati Art Museum’s East Asian collection, where an unremarkable-looking bronze mirror was just revealed to reflect a hidden image of Amida Buddha when struck by the right kind of light:
The item in storage in Cincinnati, Ohio, was smaller than the ones held in museums in Tokyo, Shanghai and New York City. It also featured a more complex style of Chinese script. Yet, [curator of East Asian art, Hou-mei] Sung recalled there was something “very similar” about it.
So, last spring, she visited the museum’s storage rooms accompanied by a conservation expert.
“I asked her to shine a strong, focused light on the mirror,” Sung said on a video call from Cincinnati. “So, she used her cell phone (flashlight) and it worked.”
On the wall before them was the appearance of texture in the reflected light — not a distinct image, but enough to warrant further investigation. Following experiments using more powerful and focused lights, the mirror eventually revealed the image of a Buddha, rays of light emanating from his seated form. The inscription on the mirror’s back spells out who was depicted: Amitabha, an important figure in various schools of East Asian Buddhism.
…
The ancient art of Chinese magic mirrors was first developed during the Han dynasty, around 2,000 years ago, though they were also later made in Japan.
To create the mysterious effect, artisans began by casting images, words or patterns onto one side of a bronze plate. Scientists believe they then scratched and scraped the plain surface on the other side, before polishing it until it became reflective like a conventional mirror. Because the plate was of varying thickness, due to the embossed design, the process created very slight changes in curvature on the seemingly blank mirrored side. A mercury-based substance was then used to make additional surface stresses that were invisible to the naked eye but matched the elaborate patterns on the back, according to an article in the UNESCO Courier journal.
When sunlight hits the reflective surface in a certain way, a hidden image — matching the design on the back — would be revealed, giving the illusion that light was passing right through the mirror. For this reason, they are known in Chinese as “transparent” or “light-penetration” mirrors. (In the case of the Cincinnati Art Museum’s discovery, however, a second metal plate was likely soldered onto the back, leaving the original embossed Buddha concealed inside.)
…
The item was first recorded in the museum’s Asian art collection in 1961, though the curator thinks it may have been acquired long before then. She also suspects that other institutions and collectors are in possession of magic mirrors without realizing.
“I found a lot in online auctions that have a similar design to ours, but (the auction listings) never say they’re magic mirrors,” she said, adding: “I believe there could be some mirrors out there that people don’t even know are magic.”
[via XK]