王莽鏡論

Abstract

In an article I published in 1984, I classified TVL mirrors with four guardian spirits from the Former Han to the Xin period into four types, and in view of the fact that the inscription "The Han has good copper which comes from Danyang" (漢有善銅出丹陽 ; hereafter : "Han") appears in mirrors of type 3, whereas the inscription "The Xin has good copper which comes from Danyang" (新有善銅出丹陽 ; hereafter : "Xin") appears in mirrors of types 3 and 4, I showed that the change in dynasty from the Han dynasty to the Xin dynasty occurred when mirrors of type 3 were being produced. That is to say, "Han" mirrors changed to "Xin" mirrors in A. D. 8, when Wang Mang 王莽 usurped the throne and founded the Xin dynasty. On the basis of this chronology, in this article the following matters are discussed. (1) "Han" mirrors tend to be distributed to the south of a line joining Shandong and Hubei, and this region overlaps with the territory of Chu in the latter part of the Warring States period. "Xin" mirrors spread beyond this region and extended their distribution to Luoyang 洛陽 and Chang'an 長安. (2) Some "Xin" mirrors also state that "The imperial mirror of the Imperial Manufactory (shangfang) is greatly unblemished" (尙方御悦大毋傷), and in the Later Han mirrors "made by the Imperial Manufactory" (尙方作) were produced in Huainan 淮南. Huainan was the capital of Chu in the latter part of the Warring States period and the capital of the kingdom of Huainan during the Former Han, and much bronzeware was produced there. Danyang, where copper was produced, and Huainan were both in Yangzhou 揚州 of the Han period, and workshops for producing "Han" mirrors would have been located in Huainan, too. (3) During the time of Wang Mang, the shangfang 尙方was not a workshop but a central government office that controlled the production of articles used in the imperial palace, and in view of the fact that Wang Mang was using mirrors for propaganda purposes from around A. D. 6 (Jushe 居攝1), the shangfang, or Directorate of Imperial Manufactories, which was under his control, presumably sent orders for mirrors to workshops in Huainan that were producing "Xin" mirrors. (4) Wang Mang also ordered the production of mirrors "made by Mr. Wang" (王氏作) so as to further enhance the prestige of his rule. (5) After Wang Mang's death in A. D. 23, Huainan came under the rule of Li Xian 李憲, the self-proclaimed king of Huainan who was subjugated by Guangwudi 光武帝 in A. D. 30. It is likely that during this time workshops for producing mirrors in Huainan came to call themselves shangfang.