Mirror

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Photo by John Bentham.
Mirror
Photo by John Bentham.
Date42 B.C.E.-37 C.E.
MediumBronze
DimensionsOverall (2023.9a Mirror): 8 × 10 1/4 × 1/8 in. (20.3 × 26 × 0.3 cm) Overall (2023.9b Paper sleeve, folded): 9 5/8 × 6 1/8 in. (24.4 × 15.6 cm)
Credit LineTransfer from Hamilton College Archives, Burke Library. Gift of Nathaniel Emmons Paine, Class of 1874.
Object number2023.9a-b
On view
DescriptionRoman mirror remnant with accompanying 1940 inscribed newspaper sleeve.

Additional Details

Provenance 2023: Hamilton College (Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art), by transfer from Hamilton College Archives (Burke Library); gift of Dr. Ignacis Cerio, Capri, Italy, to Dr. N. Emmons Paine, Newton, Massachusetts
Markings Address label on paper sleeve (typed): "DR N EMERSON PAINE / 1640 WASHINGTON ST / NEWTON MASS / C"
Inscribed Paper sleeve, handwritten vertically at top (black ink): "Roman Mirror of Bronze, / excavated when a Roman / palace had been destroyed, / perhaps one of the several / belonging to the Emperor / Tiberius. Obtained by / N. Emerson Paine in 1881, / from a friend, Dr. Ignacis / Cerio, a resident of Capri, / Italy, who had received / it from the peasant who / had unearthed it when / digging in his vineyard."
Paper sleeve, handwritten horizontally at bottom (black ink): "Dr. Cerio told me / that the mirrors were / buried with the dead / owner, signifying the / breaking apart of the / body and the spirit."
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