Two Roman Mirrors from Corbridge

Author(s): G. Lloyd-Morgan
Source: Britannia, Vol. 8 (1977), pp. 335-338
Published by: Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/525907
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 Two Roman Mirrorsfrom Corbridge
By G. LLOYD-MORGAN
AMONG the findsin the site museumat Corbridgeare two relatedsilvered
bronze mirrors. Although there are no details about the precise find
spot, they can be paralleledby a number of mirrorsfound mainly in the
region the Lower Rhine, and by several undecorated examples from excava-
of
tions in England.* The first piece is a large fragment of an almost plain disc
(PL. XVIII A), slightly convex on its reflecting side and with a narrow slightly
convex border on the under side, marked off from the body of the mirror by
a single engraved line 0o8cm from the edge. The fragment measures 7.6 by 6.o
cm; the original diameter would have been about 9.8 cm.
The second piece differs from the first only on the underside (PL. XVIII B).
Here three lines mark off the narrow border. There is a further series of three
concentric circles at a distance roughly 3 radius from the centre. A compass-
drawn design between these two bands is made up of four double semicircles
taken from four points on the inner series of circles, each touching at a point
on this ring, so as to produce the effect of a four-petalledflower. Between each,
a ray has been drawnto a point on the outer series of circles; these are obliquely
hatched. On either side of each is a decorative dot-and-circlepattern. There is a
further dot-and-circle placed at random inside the 'petal'. Unfortunately this
mirror is not complete and the design has been reconstructed from the eight
surviving fragments. The original diameter would have been about 10 cm.
Although there is no trace on either of the Corbridge pieces, some parallel
pieces have a strap handle across the back.1
* I would like to thank the Directors and staff of all museums who
gave me permission to
study and refer to their mirrors. Without their help and co-operation the initial research for
this paper could not have been completed. Final research for this note was carried out whilst
holding a scholarship from the Netherlands Ministry of Education and Science (International
Relations Department). The first draft was read by Dr D. J. Smith, Keeper of the Museum of
Antiquities, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and Curator of the Corbridge site museum. It was also read
by the late Miss M. H. P. den Boesterd of Rijksmuseum G.M. Kam, and Dr P. Stuart of the
Rijksmuseum van Oudheden te Leiden, who offered many useful suggestions and criticisms.
Any opinions or errors are mine alone. I would like to thank both Dr Stuart and Dr A. V. M.
Hubrecht, Director of Rijksmuseum Kam, for their unfailing encouragement and hospitality
during frequent and extended visits to their museums. Finally, thanks are due to my tutors in
the University of Birmingham for help and guidance over many years. The reconstruction-
drawings were prepared with the help of Mr Peter Alebon of the Grosvenor Musum, Chester.
1A related group W, with handles across the back, includes the Simpelveld mirror from the

335
336 G. LLOYD-MORGAN

Only the first mirror is paralleled from excavations in this country. One
piece excavated by Newstead from the mainly Antonine cemetery at Infirmary
Field, Chester, is fragmentarybut would originally have been about 90o cm in
diameter.2Another similar example, complete with handle, was found during
more recent excavations at St Albans, associated with a cremation burial. The
pottery has been provisionallydated to the second or third century.3
There are no parallels for the design on the decorated Corbridgemirror, but
a few pieces from the continent come fairly close. One fragment from a grave
find at Cuijk is almost identical, but lacks the dot-and-circle decoration.4
Another piece from a private collection in Regensburg has three double semi-
circles touching the inner circle, and three angular hatched rays (FIG. I A).5

FIG. I. Design on bronze mirror from Kastell Pforring (left) and from Udine (right) (½).

Like the Cuijk fragment it has no dot-and-circle decoration. Other examples

differ in that they have a slightly more elaborate and closer packed design be-
tween the two limited series of concentric circles. Where the Corbridgedesign
relies on only four bold semi-circlestouching the inner ring, these other pieces
have a larger number that intersect. Examples from Aquileia and Rome have
ten such semicircles running round this ring.6Where these touch the inner ring
celebratedsarcophagus,now in the Rijksmuseumvan Oudhedente Leiden (No. e I930/12.8), and
more distantly, the Wroxeter mirror in subgroup Wa, now in Clive House Museum, Shrewsbury
(D. Atkinson, Report on Excavations at Wroxeter 1923-27 (Oxford I942, reprinted I970),
I96-8, pl. 46).
2 R.
Newstead, Liverpool Annals of Archaeology and Anthropology 8, no. 2 (I92I), 50-5I,
grave 30, diam. 9.o cm, silvered bronze; now in the Grosvenor Museum, Chester.
3
67 0277. From St Albans, area SUAD Burial 4, Dr Ian Stead's excavations, at present in
the Department of the Environment.
4Noordbrabantsmuseum,'s Hertogenbosch No. 494 I, 2.6 by 3.6 cm, diameter originally
c. 9-3 cm, silvered bronze.
"Said to have come from a cremation grave in the cemetery of Kastell Pf6rring.
6 I59II, diam. I2.8 cm, silvered bronze; I5913, diam. 9.6 cm, silvered bronze; both in the
Museo Archeologico, Aquileia: Antiquarium, Capitoline Museums, Rome, No. 16231, diam.
I0-4 cm, described as 'bronze and antimony'.
 TWO ROMAN MIRRORS FROM CORBRIDGE 337
a compass-drawnleaf or ray has been added linking this ring with the outer
one, which is also grazed by semicircles. These rays, like the angular ones in
the Corbridgepiece, are hatched. There is a dot-and-circlepattern at the point
where the semicircles cut, and another lies directly beneath. Another piece
from Siscia but with only eight semicircles still has the spatulate ends of the
handle soldered in position.7 A variant example now in Udine (FIG. I B), has,
instead of the normal diagonal hatchings, lines drawn parallel to the main axis
at the tip of each ray, joined by a central cross.8An incomplete example from
the legionary fortress at Mainz has the usual pattern of ten intersecting semi-
circles.9But, like the Cuijk fragment, it lacks the dot-and-circleornament. The
rays are angular and hatched in the same fashion as the Corbridge piece. A
related piece, probably from Heddernheim, again differs slightly.l0 It has a
pattern of six intersecting semicircles and only one dot-and-circlebetween the
hatched, rounded rays. It also lacks the third series of concentric circles around
the centre which are found in the Rome and Aquileia examples. Another piece
which may be related to the Corbridge mirror is in the Vatican Museum.1l
Unfortunately only part of the design, an angular hatched ray coming out from
an inner series of concentric circles and touching the outer one, can be distin-
guished. Finally, there are two small fragments from the Netherlands. One
from dredging the Rhine bottom at Maurik, has the same angular ray and a
dot-and-circlepattern.'2A slightly larger piece in the RijksmuseumG.M. Kam,
Nijmegen, has an angular hatched ray with a dot-and-circlepattern.13
These pieces form part of a much larger group, typified by the low convex
moulded border separatedfrom the body of the mirrorby one or more concen-
tric circles. Some of these mirrors may have originally had a handle similar
to the one suviving on the St Albans example, but many mirror discs are too
fragmentary for the solder points, if any, to be identified. Like the Corbridge
pieces, they can either be totally plain or decorated with compass-drawn,geo-
metric or dot-and-circle patterns. The design on the mirrors in this group is
quite different from the usual decoration found on mirrorswithin Italy and the
Western Provinces, which rely for effect mainly on turned concentric circles or
a moulded or patterned edging.l4The use of extra incised decoration occurs on
7 Arheoloski Muzej, Zagreb, No. 4514, diam. Io02 cm. Another fragment in the same museum,
No. 4516 also from Siscia still has discernible traces of one hatched ray and a dot-and-circle
pattern over intersecting semicircles.
8 Museo Civico e Gallerie d'Arte Antica, Udine, No. 1139, incomplete, diam. II-4 cm.
9 diam. c. 9 cm, not located. G. Behrens, Mainzer Zeitschrift, 12/13 (I917-I8), 30, Abb. 11.14,
No. 4I.
10 From the old City Library Collection, now in the Stadtisches Museum fur Vor- und Friih-
geschichte, Frankfurt a.M., No. zu x 3535 a. u. b., diam. 9.8 cm, silvered bronze.
1 Bronze Room III, Vatican Museum, No. I2283.
2 Institute of Archaeology, University of Nijmegen, unnumbered, 1-76 by I-7 cm, probably
silvered bronze.
13 XXI.f/Xc.6, 2.2 by 3.8 cm, silvered bronze.
14 A. Heron de Villefosse, 'Le Tr6sor de Boscoreale', Mon. Plot. 5 (I899), No. 21, 88-90, pl.
xIx, fig. 20, 47; No. 22, 90-92, pl. xx; No. 98, 128 ,fig. 45; A. Maiuri, La Casa del Menandro
(Rome I932), No. I5, 15, 350, fig. I35-6, pl. XLVII-XLIII;No. I6, 353, pl. LXI; No. 4709, 452.
338 G. LLOYD-MORGAN

very few pieces outside the group under discussion here.l5

The greatest concentration of these mirrors, some 45 per cent of the total,
have been found in the province of Lower Germany, with nearly 30 per cent of
the total coming from Nijmegen alone. Several of these Nijmegen mirrors are
first-century in date,'6 though others may be later.l7 It is probable that they
were made in the Nijmegen area during this period and traded into neighbour-
ing provinces including Britain. Although the Corbridgemirrors may not be as
early as the first century, a date within the second century, on analogy with the
St Albans and Chester pieces, would probably be more reasonable.

Grosvenor Museum, Chester

" For example, Musee Arch6ologique, Nimes, No. 908.51.6I.I and 2 unprovenanced; Musee
de la Civilisation gallo romaine, Lyons, No. L I37, from Vaison la Romaine.
16
Rijksmuseum G.M. Kam No. B. E. II. 9 and I6, both formerly in the Municipal collection.
The former comes from the Hunerberg, the latter from excavations behind the Catholic church
on Koolemans Beinenstraat, Nijmegen, 1905. Further evidence for a first-century origin for the
group is given by the recent discovery of another mirror in Grave 390 at Cambodunum/Kemp-
ten. It has been described as Vespasianic in date. I am most grateful to Mr Michael Mackensen,
Munich, for this information (Jan. I976).
Pierson
17For example, H. Brunsting, 'Het Grafveld onder Hees bij Nijmegen', Allard
inv.
Stichting Archaeologische-Historische Bijdragen 4 (I937), 28, I9I, Grave 42 No. 4, pl. I2,
no. B. E. II. 29; Rijksmuseum van Oudheden te Leiden No. e I906/5.I88 also from Hees,
Nijmegen.
 PLATE XVIII

(Photo: G. Lloyd-Morgan)

A. Bronze mirror from Corbridge, Northumberland (p. 335).

Scale I: .

(Photo: G. Lloyd-Morgan)

B. Bronze mirror from Corbridge (p. 335). Scale I:I.