One rare type of mirrors of the golden horde period

The paper systemizes information on one rare type of medieval metal mirrorswith a wide Arabic Kufic inscription along the rim with three running pairs of animalsagainst the background of wavy plant shoots (placed on the second inner concentric band).Large mirrors with a diameter exceeding 19 cm of this type were produced in medievalIran. Judging by a subdued faint relief and a reduced diameter of the disc (18-18.5 cm),the mirrors of the same type found in the Eastern European areas of the Golden Horde(Figs 2 and 3) are replicas of bronze mirrors of Iranian origin. Such items are noted fora very high raised rim (9 mm). Metal mirrors of a simplified type - a smaller diameter(around 14 cm) with thin raised rims around 5 mm high and an identical image of runninganimals inside a concentric band but without an ornamental band containing an inscription(Fig. 5) - were more widespread at Golden Horde sites. The paper advances a hypothesisconcerning the use of ring composite stone forms (moulds) for mirror casting in medievalIran.