Celtic Mirror Reinheim, Bronze

Celtic Mirror Reinheim

Large Celtic hand mirror inspired by a find from Reinheim / Gersheim.
The polished bronze plate with a diameter of about 18 cm is set into a figural handle. The supporting figure is also made of solid bronze and is worked out on both sides. The plate is fastened true to the original by specially made hollow rivets with coral inlays. The supplemented wooden handle, which is no longer preserved in the original, is made of beech. The total length of this extraordinary and magnificent piece is about 37 cm. A truly exceptional reconstruction, sturdily made and serviceable.

The Celtic princely grave of Reinheim

Like the original of our necklace, the Celtic mirror comes from the ceremonial tomb of the princess of Reinheim. In February 1954, the gravel pit owner J. Schiel discovered the fragment of the mirror handle during sand mining. The bump known as the "Katzenbuckel" was subsequently archaeologically investigated and identified as a Celtic burial mound. The excavators were able to locate a burial chamber made of oak wood, which was embedded about 50 cm into the ground and recovered numerous grave goods and dress objects during the excavation. Although the skeleton of the deceased had completely passed away, it could be concluded from the finds that the buried woman was of high social rank and possibly also had a priestly or religious function. In addition to the magnificent neck ring with its human-faced ends, other gold arm rings, finger rings and arm rings made of glass and oil shale belong to the personal jewellery of the dead. Other finds include a gold disc brooch with coral inlays, a mask brooch, a figural brooch in the shape of a cock, a magnificent tubular jug with drinking utensils and numerous small finds made of glass and amber. Another outstanding find is the large hand mirror, of which there is only one comparable find from Hofheim and whose design was obviously inspired by figurative mirrors from the Mediterranean region. The mirror figure shown below comes from Olympia in Greece and dates from around 500 B.C. The figure of the Celtic mirror, however, wears a leaf crown, as is known from numerous Celtic images and also from the statue from the Glauberg.

The burial mound itself consisted of sod and had a diameter of 23 m and was probably 4.70 m high. Other burials in the surrounding area attest to a continuity of settlement over centuries. Finally, in Roman times, a large Gallo-Roman villa rustica was built not far from the burial mound, which must be regarded as the central site for the surrounding area. It can be assumed that, due to the proximity to the Celtic burial grounds, a family or at least legal successor of the Princess of Reinheim resided here.

Worth seeing today is the European Cultural Park in Reinheim, where, in addition to the Roman finds, a reconstruction of the burial mound with the open burial chamber can be visited.

Picture of the original:

SP2011, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Lit.:
R. Echt, Das Fürstinnengrab von Reinheim. Studien zur Kulturgeschichte der Früh-La-Tène-Zeit. Saarbrücker Beitr. Altkde. 69 (Bonn 1999)