Bronze “Shang Fang” Mirror (Han Dynasty)

Unearthed in 1950 in Xi'an. This inside of the square frame is decorated with twelve “dizhi” (Chinese ancient signs of indicating time). Outside of the square frame there are green dragon, white tiger, scarlet bird, xuan wu (a combination of a tortoise and a snake), birds, beasts and yu ren (people with wings ),etc.. Near them there is a circle of inscriptions which mean good luck. The two characters that begin the inscription are “Shang Fang”, thus the origin of the mirror's name.