Neronian Mirror

Triton XVII, Lot: 655. Estimate $3000. Sold for $4000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Nero. AD 54-68. Æ Mirror in two parts (51mm, 68.43 g). Styled after a Lugdunum (Lyon) mint issue of circa AD 67. IMP NERO CAESAR AVG P MAX TR POT P P, laureate head right, globe at point of neck / D[ECVRSI]O, S C across field, Nero on horseback riding right, [holding spear]; behind him, soldier on horseback right, [holding vexillum]. On such mirrors, see Paul–André Besombes, “Les miroirs de Néron,” RN 153 (1998), pp. 119-40, and especially his Type I, no. 6. For prototype: RIC I 581. VF, green and brown patina, light chipping and a few holes on exterior. Rare.

Such Neronian mirrors, either styled after sestertii or made from actual coins, were first studied by W. Froehner in 1889 (“Grands–Bronzes de Néron transformés en miroir,” ASFN 13) and since that time our understanding of why they were made has advanced little. Besombes argued that the mirrors, at least those of his Type I with an outer rim as the current lot, were distributed at events such as games or concerts and were part of a larger Neronian religious policy. The mirrors, he posits, evoke the celestial sphere with the concentric circles mirroring the way the ancients divided the sky. Of course, at the center of the mirror/celestial sphere we find the image of the emperor, who we can associate with Sol/Helios, the center of the universe. While touching on very interesting ideas, such a theory is very speculative. Nero no doubt made efforts to associate himself with Sol/Helios (of course, Nero’s Colossus of the deity at Rome carried the features of the emperor [see following lot]), but the author’s arguments are note entirely convincing in their attempts to apply Nero’s religious policy to such mirrors. Perhaps the reason we have not yet made sense of these objects is simple – fashion trends do not always make sense.