File:Romano-Celtic mirror (Desborough).jpg

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Photo by Fuzzypeg
Title
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Description

The highly decorated reverse side of a Celtic bronze mirror (obverse is the reflecting surface with green patination) from Desborough, Northamptonshire, England, showing the development of the spiral and trumpet decorative theme of the Early Celtic La Tène style in Britain. The complex symmetrical clover-leaf pattern, outlined in the form of a lyre with flanking coils, was possibly laid out using a pair of compasses or string. Parts of the decoration are engraved, using a graver, with a basket-weave pattern and hatched texturing to make the pattern stand out. The mirror is made from three pieces - a cast handle, the main mirror plate and a tubular binding strip around the edge.with a basket-weave pattern and hatched texturing.

Curator's comments: The plate was highly polished on one side to produce a reflective surface. A mirror would have been a powerful object in a world where reflections could only be glimpsed in water. A person using a mirror would control how they looked using the mirror in combination with tweezers or shears. Decorated mirrors of this type are uniquely British, very few are found on the continent. The majority are from graves dating between 100BC and AD 100 (Joy, J, Iron Age Mirrors: A biographical approach, Oxford, British Archeological Reports, 2010).

https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=828309&partId=1

decorated-bronze-mirror/VgE7t2RKW5GkxQGoogle Arts & Culture
Date

50 BCE - 50 CE (manufactured),

2005-11-14 CE (photographed)
Medium gravure
Dimensions

Mirror without handle:

length: 239 mm (9.40 in); width: 258 mm (10.15 in); thickness: 5 mm (0.19 in)
dimensions QS:P2043,239U174789
dimensions QS:P2049,258U174789
dimensions QS:P2610,5U174789

Handle (base):

length: 115 mm (4.52 in); width: 69 mm (2.71 in); thickness: 6 mm (0.23 in)
dimensions QS:P2043,115U174789
dimensions QS:P2049,69U174789
dimensions QS:P2610,6U174789

Handle (top and middle):

length: 115 mm (4.52 in); width: 30 mm (1.18 in); thickness: 10 mm (0.39 in)
dimensions QS:P2043,115U174789
dimensions QS:P2049,30U174789
dimensions QS:P2610,10U174789

Overall:

length: 350 mm (13.77 in); width: 258 mm (10.15 in); thickness: 10 mm (0.39 in); diameter: 360 mm (14.17 in)
dimensions QS:P2043,350U174789
dimensions QS:P2049,258U174789
dimensions QS:P2610,10U174789
dimensions QS:P2386,360U174789
mass: 561g
institution QS:P195,Q6373
Current location
Desborough
Accession number
1924,0109.1
Source/Photographer Photographed in the British Museum.
Permission
(Reusing this file)
All rights released

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37 millimetre

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Date/TimeThumbnailDimensionsUserComment
current11:09, 20 October 2013Thumbnail for version as of 11:09, 20 October 2013752 × 1,024 (229 KB)RotatebotBot: Image rotated by 180°
02:55, 22 December 2011Thumbnail for version as of 02:55, 22 December 2011752 × 1,027 (226 KB)RotatebotBot: Reset EXIF-specified Orientation of image (EXIF-Orientation set from 6 to 1, rotated 0°)
03:54, 22 December 2006Thumbnail for version as of 03:54, 22 December 20061,027 × 752 (226 KB)Fuzzypeg{{Information |Description=The reverse side of a Romano-Celtic bronze mirror from Desborough, Northants, showing the development of the spiral and trumpet decorative theme of the Early Celtic art of Britain toward the end of the first millenium. 36 cm dia

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