For thousands of years, whenever a woman got married, her family always gave the girl a rich dowry, and a jewelry box (makeup box) was indispensable. With the development of the times, the jewelry box gradually faded out of history and walked off the stage.
However, it has accompanied Chinese women for thousands of years and has become the most intimate and favorite common object of ancient women. This kind of feminine furniture, which is endowed with poetry because of the slow spring resentment, and also triggers our infinite yearning for the mysterious ancient life because of its ingenuity.
People familiar with Tang poetry and Song poetry must be very familiar with the word “makeup”, an image that often appears in poetry and songs, and has almost become a typical reference for expressing the life and resentment of Purdah. The so-called mirror table is part of the boudoir women’s makeup, which is an important dressing product for ancient women.
Strictly speaking, there was no special dressing table in ancient times, and the mirror table used to hold mirrors was placed on the table, plus a dressing box filled with various cosmetics, which constituted a place for purdah women to comb every day, and it was also a necessary dowry for women to marry. For the ancient people who were full of poetry in their hearts, furniture was not only a thing, but also carried different emotions and understandings because of its relationship with life. Witnessing the quiet passage of purdah, the mirror platform is also endowed with a unique feeling full of boudoir grievances. For example, in Zhang Ruoxu’s “Spring River Flower and Moon Night”, it is mentioned that “the poor upstairs wanders in the moon, and should be taken away from the mirror table”, and Tang Xuan’s “Still Weinan Feeling Old” writes: “The bedroom is sad and long, the makeup building weeps the mirror table” and other poems, the mirror platform is often closely related to emotions such as resentment and parting, which is an important portrayal of the mood of the ancients.
Later, with the widespread use of seats and tables, mirror tables also developed a classic style placed on the tabletop, and gradually went to the people, and was widely used in the Song and Ming Dynasties. Common mirror table styles include folding type, throne type, five-screen (screen decoration rendering) type, etc., and the styles are diverse and creative. Some mirror tables also have small drawers under the floor for rouge, powder, eyebrow pencil and other makeup tools, which are generous in appearance and functional.
These ancient mirror tables are usually richly decorated, exquisitely worked, and have beautiful meanings, using hollow carvings, relief patterns and other decorations. The most common themes such as dragon flying phoenix dance, flowers and birds are pleasant, showing a leisurely and luxurious atmosphere of life.