An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c23.s5.1

v1.c23.s5.1

Mirrors in the shape of circular metal discs, originally polished on one side and plain or with a design or decoration on the other, have been found in a limited number at many sites. The earliest reported examples are from Mehi (Stein, 1931, pp. 157-8) in Baluchistan where two copper mirrors have been found in the cemetery. One of them has been described as a thin copper disc probably used as a mirror; the other, 1·27 cm in diameter, has an elegant handle 'representing a stylized female figure ... with breasts and conventionalized arms akimbo, but with the head provided only by the reflection of the user of the mirror.' (Piggott, 1961, pp. 112-13). The stylized female figure has been done in the 'manner of the clay figurines' from sites of the Kulli culture indicating thereby that it is a local product. In Piggotts view the idea of the head of the user of the mirror serving as the head of the figure on the handle and 'the sophistication of the metal-work make the Mehi mirror stand out among the toilet accessories of the whole Ancient East—there is nothing like it in the otherwise more advanced Harappa culture, and the use of a human figure as a mirror handle, though familiar in Egypt in the XVIII Dynasty (from about 1570 B.C.), is unknown in Western Asia' (*ibid.*). However a handled copper mirror of the Mehi type has also been found at Sapalli-Tepe near Termex on the Oxus in s. Uzbekistan (Gupta, 1979, 2, pp. 203-4).