Eight-foiled mirror with a design of the Moon Palace of Chang-e

According to Daoist thought, the Yin force is associated with the moon, with darkness, and with the feminine. The Daoist moon goddess Chang-e was said to have stolen the elixir of immortality from her husband—the mythical archer, Yi—and taken it with her to Guanghan Gong (Palace of Far-Reaching Cold) on the moon. This mirror, with its foliate rim of eight points (an auspicious number), depicts Chang-e’s palace and the fragrant, magical Osmanthus tree that blooms at the time of the Autumn Moon Festival. Another story involves Wu Gang, whose divine punishment was to endlessly try to chop the Osmanthus tree down—a lesson in futility, because the tree always healed itself. (“Moon,” curated by Ellen Avril and presented at the Johnson Museum August 25, 2018-January 13, 2019)