Editing Mirror (section)

===Bronze Age to Early Middle Ages===
{{main|Bronze mirror}}
By the [[Bronze Age]] most cultures were using mirrors made from polished discs of [[bronze]], [[copper]], [[silver]], or other metals.<ref name=fior2009/><ref name=whit2013/> The people of [[Kerma culture|Kerma]] in [[Nubia]] were skilled in the manufacturing of mirrors. Remains of their bronze [[kiln]]s have been found within the temple of Kerma.<ref>{{cite book| last = Bianchi| first = Robert Steven| title = Daily Life of the Nubians| year = 2004| publisher = Greenwood Publishing Group| isbn = 978-0-313-32501-4| page = 81 }}</ref> In China, [[bronze mirror]]s were manufactured from around 2000&nbsp;BC,<ref name="Ancient Chinese Bronze Mirrors">{{cite web |title=Ancient Chinese Bronze Mirrors |url=https://www.huntington.org/ancient-chinese-bronze-mirrors |website=The Huntington |publisher=The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Gardens |access-date=15 November 2020 |archive-date=17 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201117031015/https://www.huntington.org/ancient-chinese-bronze-mirrors |url-status=live }}</ref> some of the earliest bronze and copper examples being produced by the [[Qijia culture]]. Such metal mirrors remained the norm through to [[Greco-Roman]] Antiquity and throughout the [[Middle Ages]] in [[Europe]].<ref name=brit2009/> During the [[Roman Empire]] silver mirrors were in wide use by servants.<ref name=roma2019/>

[[Speculum metal]] is a highly reflective [[alloy]] of copper and [[tin]] that was used for mirrors until a couple of centuries ago.{{when|date=August 2022}}{{vague|date=August 2022}} Such mirrors may have originated in China and India.<ref name=need1974/> Mirrors of speculum metal or any precious metal were hard to produce and were only owned by the wealthy.<ref name=hopk1910/>

Common metal mirrors tarnished and required frequent polishing. Bronze mirrors had low reflectivity and poor [[color rendering]], and stone mirrors were much worse in this regard.<ref name=bonn2011/>{{rp|p.11}} These defects explain the [[New Testament]] reference in [[1 Corinthians 13]] to seeing "as in a mirror, darkly."

The [[Ancient Greece|Greek]] [[philosopher]] [[Socrates]] urged young people to look at themselves in mirrors so that, if they were beautiful, they would become worthy of their beauty, and if they were ugly, they would know how to hide their disgrace through learning.<ref name=bonn2011/>{{rp|p.106}}

[[Glass]] began to be used for mirrors in the 1st century [[Common Era|CE]], with the development of [[soda-lime glass]] and [[glass blowing]].<ref name=pulk1999/> The Roman scholar [[Pliny the Elder]] claims that artisans in [[Sidon]] (modern-day [[Lebanon]]) were producing glass mirrors coated with [[lead]] or [[gold leaf]] in the back. The metal provided good reflectivity, and the glass provided a smooth surface and protected the metal from scratches and tarnishing.<ref name=plin0077/><ref name=holl2009/><ref name=ande2008/><ref name=bonn2011/>{{rp|p.12}}<ref name=kels2007/> However, there is no archeological evidence of glass mirrors before the third century.<ref name=degy/>

These early glass mirrors were made by blowing a glass bubble, and then cutting off a small circular section from 10 to 20 [[centimetre|cm]] in diameter. Their surface was either concave or convex, and imperfections tended to distort the image. Lead-coated mirrors were very thin to prevent cracking by the heat of the molten metal.<ref name=bonn2011/>{{rp|p.10}} Due to the poor quality, high cost, and small size of glass mirrors, solid-metal mirrors (primarily of steel) remained in common use until the late nineteenth century.<ref name=bonn2011/>{{rp|p.13}}

Silver-coated metal mirrors were developed in China as early as 500 CE. The bare metal was coated with an [[amalgam (chemistry)|amalgam]], then heated until the [[mercury (element)|mercury]] boiled away.<ref name=rapp2009/>