A Method of Mass Producing Bronze Mirrors in Ancient China

In approximately 300 BCE, a new method was developed in the design and
manufacturing technologies of the bronze mirror industry in China that changed the ways in which producers cast mirrors. This presentation utilizes several examples to illustrate this method. It hypothesizes an invention termed the “component-model method” of mirror manufacturing. Multiple transfers were performed on models and molds applied at different stages of the production process. The method was devised to satisfy the burgeoning needs of a growing number of consumers and simultaneously catered to the requirement of the diverse decorative patterns on different mirrors. Its origin, which was associated with the production methods of the Houma Foundry in Shanxi, will also be explored in the presentation.