The mirror, the magus and more: reflections on John Dee's obsidian mirror

Michael D Glascock,Stuart Campbell,Elizabeth Healey,Yaroslav Kuzmin

doi:10.15184/aqy.2021.132

Michael D Glascock, Stuart Campbell + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2021.132

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Abstract

The obsidian mirror associated with the Elizabethan polymath and magus John Dee (1527–1608/1609) has been an object of fascination for centuries. The mirror, however, has a deeper history as an Aztec artefact brought to Europe soon after the Spanish conquest. The authors present the results of new geochemical analysis, and explore its history and changing cultural context to provide insights into its meaning during a period in which entirely new world views were emerging. The biography of the mirror demonstrates how a complex cultural history underpins an iconic object. The study highlights the value of new compositional analyses of museum objects for the reinterpretation of historically significant material culture.

Highlights

One of the most well-known objects on display in the British Museum’s Enlightenment Gallery is the obsidian mirror associated with John Dee, the Renaissance polymath, magus and confidant of Queen Elizabeth I
Obsidian mirrors were first made in the seventh millennium BC in the Near East, mirrors such as the one associated with Dee are likely to have been of Aztec origin (Ackermann & Devoy 2012; Smith 2014)
While earlier technologies were almost certainly used in their manufacture, it is inevitable that the complex associations of obsidian mirrors retained relevance in Mexico during the sixteenth century, and perhaps more distantly in Europe as these objects were imported from Mesoamerica

Summary

Introduction

One of the most well-known objects on display in the British Museum’s Enlightenment Gallery is the obsidian mirror associated with John Dee, the Renaissance polymath, magus and confidant of Queen Elizabeth I. We review the history of the mirror and its association with John Dee, together with similar artefacts in the British Museum (Table 1) This includes determination of the geological origins of these obsidian objects. The original catalogue describes it as “An Azteck Mirror, composed of a large plate of Obsidian, polished on both sides” (Bullock 1824: 30) It was purchased by the British Museum in 1825, following the closure of Bullock’s exhibition, and is currently exhibited with John Dee’s mirror in the Enlightenment Gallery, creating a new context by association. The third circular mirror (artefact 3; Figure 3.2) has a square tab, like John Dee’s mirror, and measures approximately 240mm in diameter It was collected in the nineteenth century by Sir Edgar Thornton while he was an attaché in Mexico, before being acquired by the museum in 1907 (Tait 1967: 204). Both sources were exploited in the Late Postclassical (1200–1521) and early colonial periods (1521 onwards)

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