The History of Mirrors


Although frameless mirrors made of glass with beveled edges are a relatively recent innovation, mirrors have been around since ancient times.

Mirrors made of metal were the first to be made, mostly of flattened and highly polished copper and bronze. The reflecting surface would be on one side, and a design on the other, often with some kind of handle.

Bronze mirrors were made in China from Neolithic times (about 2000 B.C.) until the Qing dynasty, when Western mirrors were brought over. Although at first mirrors were not common, by the Han and Tang dynasties they were being mass produced and were more advanced. Always round, they featured intricate designs on the back and a knob in the center to attach to clothing.

These bronze mirrors made their way from China to Japan, where they were adapted to Japanese tastes. Called “shinju-kyo,” they featured gods and beasts as the design on the back.

Meanwhile, bronze mirrors were developed in Europe during the Bronze Age, with discoveries made in Britain, Greece and Italy. Specifically, Celtic mirrors were made in Britain until the Roman Conquest, and Etruscan mirrors were made from the 5th to 2nd centuries B.C. In ancient Rome mirrors were also made of tin, silver and gold.

Egypt also had bronze, and copper, mirrors. Formed from the molten metals, they were made into round, oval, or square shapes. But Egyptians also used the “natural glass,” obsidian, to make small mirrors as well, sometimes embedded directly into walls.

Mirrors made of glass had to wait until the discovery of glass making, and the Romans were the first to adapt this new technology. In fact, in Roman graves from the 2nd and 3rd centuries, mirror shards – pieces of glass covered with lead on one side – were found.

It took until the 14th century for glass blowing to be discovered, and this too was used in the production of mirrors. It began in a unique way: the mirrors were actually in glass bulbs. The glass blower would first blow the bulb, then pour a mixture of liquid metals like lead, tin and antimony down the pipe and into the bulb. Once cooled, the bulbs were cut open and the round ends, with the metal coating inside, became small convex mirrors. Although the reflection they would make wasn’t perfect, it was an improvement over bronze.

By the end of the Middle Ages this type of mirror production was improved further by using mercury mixed with tin, on a plate of flat glass, to create a larger, clearer reflection. While the invention of this process seems to have occurred in Germany and Belgium (then called Flanders), the artisans of Murano in Venice led the way in the production of these “mercury mirrors.” By the 16th century they were widespread. And because the exact components and process of making the mirrors was kept secret, the prices were able to be kept very high.

From what is understood, the production of mercury mirrors wasn’t easy. Not only was it complicated and time consuming, but to make matters worse, it was also unhealthy, as mercury fumes are very toxic.

And so the search was on to find a better way to make a mirror. It wasn’t until the 19th century that the “silver mirror” was developed. Although Germany seems the most likely place of its creation, England, France and Italy also claim the invention.

A simple description of the process is, to coat a glass surface with metallic silver. Specifically, aldehyde is mixed with a silver nitrite solution and heated. A reduction is formed, causing the silver to adhere on the glass surface.

MODERN MIRRORS

Today’smodern mirrors, including frameless mirrors, are made with a thin layer of molten silver, or aluminum, poured onto plate glass in a vacuum. For specialized mirrors, such as those in telescopes or other optical instruments, the aluminum is actually “evaporated” onto the front of the glass rather than the back to eliminate the possibility of reflections from the glass itself.