Yangsui

Sun Fire Mirror

Ancient concave bronze mirror used to kindle ritual fire from sunlight.

Yangsui is the ancient concave bronze mirror used to focus sunlight and kindle fire, also called fusui. The Rites of Zhou record that the officer of fire drew “bright fire from the sun” with it, and ritual offerings required fire born of sunlight rather than of the hearth. The custom made the sun itself the source of sacred flame — and preserved one of antiquity’s earliest optical devices.