Desborough Mirror

The Desborough Mirror is an intricately decorated English bronze mirror dated to c. 50 BC – 50 AD. It consists of a cast handle and a circular mirror plate, which is highly polished on its front side to achieve reflectivity. The plate's reverse is decorated with intricate engraved and chased curvilinear patterns in the La Tène style, and filled in with basket hatching.

The mirror was discovered in 1908 by workmen outside Desborough, Northamptonshire. Along with the Birdlip Mirror, it is widely considered to be the finest of the roughly 26 surviving, fully intact and decorated Iron Age bronze mirrors, the large majority of which are English. It was acquired by the British Museum in 1924, where it is displayed in room 50 (Britain and Europe 800 BC–AD 43).

The Desborough Mirror was discovered in the mid-1908 by workers excavating ironstone from a site at the east end of Desborough, Northamptonshire, England. It was found in the same field as a near contemporary 2 in (51 mm) bronze brooch. However, the artefacts are unlikely to be from the same deposit (burial).

Decorated bronze mirrors of this type are specific to England; only a few continental examples are known. The majority have been found at graves dated to between 100 BC and 100 AD, indicating that, in contrast to many other Iron Age artefact types, they were not hidden or lost. Archaeologists and art historians generally agree that the Desborough Mirror dates from c. 50 BC–50 AD, based on the assumption that the quality of design and execution indicates that it was created during the "peak" of Iron Age mirror design.

The Desborough mirror, like that found at Birdlip, is in relatively good condition compared to other extant decorated examples, some of which may be reproductions given the disparity between their high-quality design and relatively poor-quality execution. There is light corrosion on around a quarter of the plates' surface and on portions of the tubular loop.

The mirror's cast handle consists of a looped-chain design, and is relatively simply designed compared to other extant contemporary examples.

The mirror plate is roughly circular and lined with a continuous tubular binding strip. The front side and handle contain green patination, while the reflection on the front side was realised through extensive polishing of the bronze surface. Previously, reflection was only experienced by looking into clear water. Thus, historians assume the mirrors were commissioned for high-status women.

The reverse side is decorated with intricate curvilinear Celtic designs in the "Insular La Tène" style, including engraved spirals, crescent shapes and "trumpet" (three-sided) patterns. In total, 224 individual patterns have been identified.