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Song antiquarian catalogues refer to this décor pattern as “nipples.” Later collectors and scholars described it as a “star and cloud” patterns, but without either textual or archaeological evidence. A more plausible theory argues that the design evolved from the disintegration of an earlier pattern of interlaced dragons.
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漢 星雲紋銅鏡
Title: Mirror with knobs and swirls
Period: Western Han dynasty (206 BCE–9 CE)
Date: 2nd to 1st century BCE
Culture: China
Medium: Bronze with black patina
Dimensions: Diam. 4 1/2 in. (11.4 cm)
Classification: Mirrors
Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1917
Accession Number: 17.51.4
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