Text, Bronze mirrors, common patterns, shan-zi, kui dragons

Bronze mirror with four-point diamond-like and coiling kuid dragons pattern, National Palace Museum. Bronze mirror with four coiling kui dragons pattern. The common patterns decorating the bronze mirrors from the Warring States period include shan-zi (a pattern similar to the character mountain), lozenges, connected arcs, feathers, dragons, kui dragons, hunting scenes, and so on. Most were the modified versions based upon those on the bronze vessels of Eastern Zhou and then evolved into a system of their own, achieving the first peak in the history of bronze mirrors.