We know that bronze mirrors were used in ancient China. What kind of mirrors are used abroad?

In 3000 BC, a bronze mirror for cosmetics appeared in Egypt. Taking metal as a mirror seems to be an amazing tacit understanding between Chinese and western ancients. In China, the ancients attributed the invention of mirrors to Xuanyuan Huangdi. In contrast, Guo Moruo's inference is more reasonable: "Ordinary people use pottery to hold water, while nobles use bronze to hold water. If the bronze ware is polished very cleanly, it can be judged that there is no water.

Therefore, further, a mirror is formed by flattening the copper basin. There are patterns on the back of the bronze mirror and buttons on the vest, which are the marks of the flattening of the bronze water container. The pattern of bronze water container is on the surface, and it becomes the back after flattening. The button chest is the root of the foot. "In fact, this statement has reference significance not only to the historical situation of China, but also to the situation of foreign countries.

12- 13 century, metal-plated glass mirrors appeared in the west. /kloc-In the 4th century, the shrewd Venetian brother Dilgat Rowe invented a glass mirror with tin foil and mercury on the back, and obtained a patent right from the government for 20 years. This expensive Murano (a glassware manufacturing center near Venice) mirror has been snapped up by Europe for nearly two centuries.

/kloc-At the beginning of the 6th century, the price of a Venice mirror with a beautiful silver frame was 8,000 pounds, almost three times that of Raphael's paintings at that time. King Francois I of France is a big fan of this kind of high-definition mirror, and he keeps ordering new models from Venice. With the continuous reduction of industrial production costs and the wide application of modern reflective materials, glass mirrors are no longer a luxury, just like bronze mirrors in those days, they have entered thousands of households. In the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, a large number of glass mirrors with mature manufacturing technology appeared in China, and the bronze mirror market shrank and did not improve.

However, for a long time, the use of mirrors was still the privilege of the rich. In the French drama Versailles, there is such a detail that some civilians have been clamoring against Louis XIV, so he simply invited these farmers to Versailles. When these slovenly people came in and met a mirror, one person exclaimed, "God, why am I so ugly?" This little detail is not exaggerated. Louis XIV loved mirrors and sent people to Italy to steal the secret recipe for making mirrors.