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Water reflections -

Conventional wisdom suggests that the first mirrors used by humans were most likely pools of dark, still water, or water collected in a primitive vessel of sorts, where reflections offered a near-true likeness of a person's face.

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Obsidian mirror -

The earliest man-made mirrors were crafted from polished stone, often obsidian, a naturally occurring volcanic glass. Pictured is an obsidian mirror unearthed in Kabri in modern-day Israel and dated back to 7,500 years ago, during the Wadi Rabah archaeological culture of the Southern Levant.

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Ancient Greece -

This skyphos found in Magna Graecia, the name given by the Romans to the coastal areas of Southern Italy, depicts a woman looking into a mirror and a young man, and is dated back to the 6th century BCE.

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Parabolic mirror -

To light their Olympic torch, the ancient Greeks kindled the flame using a skaphia (a type of crucible), which was positioned facing the sun. The sun's rays were concentrated there and set fire to the dry grass. The use today of a parabolic mirror is directly inspired by this ancient ceremony, which was first carried out in 776 BCE.

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The Archimedes "Death Ray" -

A popular myth recalls the Greek physicist and engineer Archimedes using mirrors, possibly polished bronze shields, to focus sunlight onto advancing Roman ships around 200 BCE during the Second Punic War, causing them to burst into flames. The fanciful claim was debunked in a episode of the Discovery Channel's 'Mythbusters' series, when a modern-day reconstruction of the ancient "death ray" failed to ignite a stationary vessel built especially for the experiment.

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Ancient Egypt -

Ancient Egyptians were using mirrors made from polished bronze (pictured), copper, and silver. This caryatid mirror (caryatid being a sculpted female figure serving as an architectural support) dates back c. 1540-1296 BCE.

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Ancient Rome -

During the Roman Empire, silver mirrors were in wide use even by maidservants. Pictured is a 1st century CE relief depicting a Roman lady with a mirror. By this time, mirrors made of metal-backed glass had appeared in the Levant, and the Romans were making crude mirrors from blown glass with lead backings.

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Ancient Carthage -

This highly detailed mosaic dated back to the 2nd or 3rd century CE shows the dressing of a noblewoman at her vanity table attended by maidservants, one of whom is holding up a mirror.

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Mirrors from China -

Silver-coated metal mirrors were developed in China as early as 500 CE. Pictured is a lobed mirror with paired phoenixes, a nesting bird, and a lotus blossom, crafted during the Tang dynasty (618-907 CE).

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From China to Japan -

In Japan, bronze mirrors (imported from China c. 300 CE) were associated with the sun goddess Amaterasu and imperial ancestors. By the mid-14th century, Japanese mirrors were depicting mythical creatures such as this dragon mirror created by the Zen monk and painter Sesson Shukei.

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Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) -

Leonardo da Vinci possessed a remarkable knowledge and understanding far beyond his times of most of the sciences, including biology, anatomy, physiology, hydrodynamics, mechanics, and aeronautics. His notebooks were uniquely written in mirror writing, and could only be read by reflecting the text in a mirror.

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Middle Ages -

By the Middle Ages, advances in glass-blowing technology led to guildsmen improving their craft. This image of a lady in the mirror is a detail of a 15th-century fresco in the Hall of Vices and Virtues at Castiglioni Mantegazza, a castle located in the village of Masnago in Italy.

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European Renaissance -

During the early European Renaissance, the discovery of convex mirrors increased the popularity of glass mirrors, making them more accessible to a wider public. Pictured: a peasant shows his wife her reflection in a mirror, as depicted in this work by Flemish Renaissance painter Jan Massijs (c. 1510–1575).

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Till Eulenspiegel -

Till Eulenspiegel (an imaginary early 14th-century figure said to come from Kneitlingen near Braunschweig, in Germany) is seen wearing a jester's motley and staring into a mirror with an owl perched on his shoulder. His name translates to "owl mirror," and he roamed through the Holy Roman Empire, especially Northern Germany, but also the Low Countries, Bohemia, and Italy playing practical jokes on his contemporaries and exposing vices at every turn.

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Allegory of Beauty -

'Girl Before the Mirror' by Venetian painter Titian, dated back to c. 1515. The scene shows a young girl combing her hair with the help of two mirrors held by a man, and has been interpreted as an allegory of Beauty flaunting herself.

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Isaac Newton (1642-1727) -

English scientist and mathematician Isaac Newton built the world's first reflecting telescope, in 1668. The instrument featured a polished metal speculum (mirror) that magnified 25 times. Incidentally, did you know the word mirror derives from the French "mirour," itself from the Latin "mirari"? It means to admire. The Romans, however, used the word "speculum," from "specere"—to look, or behold. 

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Saint-Gobain -

Founded in 1665 and established by royal initiative, the Compagnie de Saint-Gobain greatly expanded the production of mirrors, items which by then had become very popular among the upper classes of society. Italian cabinets, châteaux and ornate side tables, and pier-tables were routinely decorated with this expensive and luxurious product. The engraving shows workers busy in the factory.

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Hall of Mirrors, Palace of Versailles -

In 1678, Saint-Gobain produced the glass for the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles. The 17 mirror-clad arches, encompassing 357 mirrors, reflecting 17 opposing arcade windows, is widely acknowledged as one of the most beautiful and resplendent achievements of classical 18th-century French art.

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Thomas Chippendale (1718–1779) -

One of the most notable names in the history of English furniture making, Thomas Chippendale developed a style of mirror known for its intricate design featuring "ears" and small fretted scrolls finished in gilt wood. Pictured is a design for a chimney piece mirror, dated 1761.

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Robert Adam (1728–1792) -

Similarly, Scottish architect and interior and furniture designer Robert Adam created numerous mirrors, many of which found their way to North America. Pictured is a design for a console table with a mirror and other pieces of furniture.

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Justus von Liebig (1803-1873) -

German scientist Justus von Liebig is credited with the invention of the silvered-glass mirror. This highly reflective silvering process was adapted for mass manufacturing and led to the greater availability of affordable mirrors.

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Convex mirrors -

English furniture designer Thomas Sheraton (1751–1806) enthusiastically promoted convex mirrors as a design element. Pictured is the painting 'The Convex Mirror,' c. 1916, by Australian artist George Washington Lambert (1873–1930).

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Mirror deck landing aid -

Contemporary uses for mirrors include the ingenious mirror deck landing aid for aircraft approaching aircraft carriers. Also known as the optical landing system (OLS), it was developed after the Second World War by the British and consisted of a gyroscopically-controlled concave mirror on the port side of the flight deck. Pilots focused on a light shined into a concave mirror, which provided a reference to maintain the proper glide path. Pictured is the OLS onboard HMS Victorious in Portsmouth in 1958.

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Fairground fun -

Most of us have enjoyed gazing on a contorted version of ourselves at fairs and carnivals, just like these kids in 1957 seen laughing in front of mirrors that reflect a distorted view of themselves, at an amusement park in Ramsgate, England.

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The mirror in popular culture -

In 'Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There' (1871), the sequel to 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' (1865), English author Lewis Carroll (1832–1898) this time has Alice entering a fantastical world by climbing through a mirror. There she finds that, just like a reflection, everything is reversed, including logic.

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"Mirror, mirror, on the wall..." -

In a famous scene from 'Snow White' (1937), the wicked queen boldly asks her mirror, "Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?" She is outraged when the mirror answers that her stepdaughter Snow White is the fairest.

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The cult of beauty -

Mirrors have played an important role in the cult of celebrity and have been used since the early days of cinema. Pictured in 1935 is American film actress Carole Lombard (1908–1942) reflected in a triangular mirror.

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'Enter the Dragon' (1973) -

And mirrors have featured in numerous films as important plot elements. For instance, in 'Enter the Dragon,' Bruce Lee's character battles it out with the villainous Han in a hall of mirrors. The multiple reflections initially give Han the advantage, but Lee sets about shattering the mirrors to reveal his adversary's location, and eventually kills him.

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Verner Panton (1926–1998) -

Influential Danish furniture designer Verner Panton made great use of mirrors, using them to imaginative effect, as exemplified by his Mirror Canteen, created in Hamburg, Germany.

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'Cloud Gate' -

British-Indian sculptor Anish Kapoor specializes in installation and conceptual art and often employs mirrors and reflective surfaces to question his audience's perceptions of body and space. His 'Cloud Gate' in Chicago's Millennium Park does this perfectly.

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Looking into space -

And mirrors are helping us explore the very depths of the cosmos. Pictured is the primary mirror for the Hubble Space Telescope, which uses ultra-low-expansion glass and a thin film of aluminium to reflect a spectrum of radiation from ultraviolet to near-infrared. From there, it beams it to a smaller mirror behind it and back out through a hole in the primary lens, where the confining beam finally shines onto scientific instrumentation, thus revealing the wonders of the universe.

Sources: (Mirror History) (L'Antiquaire & the Connoisseur) (KWC) (Bienenstock Furniture Library) (Google Arts & Culture) 

See also: Stella spectacular: NASA photos that will make you feel small

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