Mirror in Painting and Painting in Mirror: Mirror Images and Narrative Implications in the Engraved Illustrations of Ming and Qing Xiqu and Fictions

Abstract

Abstract: Mirrors, as a tool for presenting images, often have a mysterious quality. From the initial reflection to the later symbolic metaphor, mirrors often appear in the illustrations of popular fictions and xiqu in the Ming and Qing dynasties due to their practical imaging function and multiple symbolic meanings. As a physical carrier, painters use the images reflected by mirrors to create a different image of space-time in the illustrated world. It symbolizes deep emotions and characters' destinies that were not clearly expressed in the illustrations, creating a special visual image of “painting in the mirror”. As a pictorial symbol, the “painting in the mirror” becomes part of the whole expression of the main picture, becoming “mirror in the painting”. Painters not only use mirrors to expand the space of the picture, but also continuously interact with various objects in the main picture through the “picture in picture” in the mirror, leading viewers into the world of “picture in picture” with endless meanings.

Key words: mirror in painting, painting in mirror, Ming and Qing xiqu and fictions, engraved illustrations, spatio-temporal narrative

Han Wenwen, Long Diyong. Mirror in Painting and Painting in Mirror: Mirror Images and Narrative Implications in the Engraved Illustrations of Ming and Qing Xiqu and Fictions[J]. Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art, 2024, 44(3): 90-100.

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