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The Trelan Bahow Mirror
also known as
The St. Keverne Mirror
Cornwall, England
1st century BCE
Bronze
British Museum, London
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This mirror carefully displays a side by side
design of free circles. Due to the incision of the
free circles on the left side of the mirror, one
may speculate the Trelan Bahow Mirror was made
after the Mayer Mirror (Fox, 98).
Similar to other
Celtic Bronze Mirrors, this mirror shows basketry
hatching as the basis of all design. An outline
separates the outside world from the decoration on
the mirror back. This outline is nothing more than
a pointed scalloped edge. Basketry hatching fills
the triangles which point away from the center of
the mirror, therefore, every other triangle is
open.
The main part of the mirror consists of two
elaborate, yet different, circles. In each circle,
the artisan carefully included a variety of Celtic
ornamentation. Three sided voids and matted shapes
are common throughout these two circles. Matted
shapes are merely shapes filled in with basketry
hatching. All roundels in the Trelan Bahow Mirror
are open roundels. Lobes, as well as trumpet
shapes, are intertwined with the three sided voids
and other matted shapes to create harmony within
each circle.
For the most part, however, the Trelan
Bahow Mirror is formed on the basis of the circle.
In other words, the circle, in one way or another,
incorporated itself into almost every shape. The
handle on this mirror is a basis loop handle,
exactly like the handle on the Mayer Mirror. A
teardrop is formed at the top of the handle, thus
allowing the mirror to hang easily on the wall. Due
to the nature of the design, this mirror does not
display metamorphosis nor trilliums. As a result,
no human face "magically" appears once
the mirror is hung upon a wall. |
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