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FREUD MUSEUM
My name is Tara Griffin and I am not an Egyptologist, nor am I a Psychotherapist. I am the curator of this mirror project and all the information represented is my own. This project is about participation, so please get in contact if you have anything to say or (even any corrections to make!).
CREATION
This mirror was created more than 2,000 years ago. Let's explore the conditions and reason for its creation!
NB: A lot of the objects in Freud's house have come to be viewed primarily as 'Freuds', they are valued as possessions by the majority of those who come to visit the museum.
This mirror had a life, in New Kingdom Egypt, long before it came into Freud's hands.
The Ankh
Hieroglyphs are one of the written forms of ancient Egyptian. Hieroglyphs are symbolic, using images and icons as representations of phonetic sounds and as indicative of complex ideas. Often the drawn iconography of a hieroglyph would inform the design of the object associated with it. For example, the Hieroglyph 'Ankh' means life - but it also indicates things which are alive; such as bouquets of flowers, awaking from sleep, a name, and also, a mirror.
Symbols and shapes were closely related to meanings, so for each shape involved in our mirror, there is added nuance; stories and meanings that our Ancient Egyptian counterparts would be decoding and assimilating naturally. Nearly all the shapes in our mirror relate back to life - from the overall shape of the mirror which resembles the Ankh (some mirrors have clearer definition, ours seems to be a small hand-held mirror, with little adorning it, which makes me think that it was probably from someone less wealthy in society and was used often - not used as a ritual or offering), to the handles curved top resembling a papyrus reed which has connotations of health and vitality.
Life observes life
Mythology
Mirrors in Ancient Egypt were part of the ritual worship of the goddess Hathor.
Often, in these mirrors, you will see a face emerging from papyrus reeds in the handle, our example from the Freud Museum does not feature Hathor, but does have a handle that is shaped in the papyrus style.
In Egyptian culture, the line between object and symbolism was very blurred. 'Objects of art' and objects of daily use often overlapped. Often, their objects had spiritual and mythological links. Mirrors, such as this one, are linked to the mythology of Hathor and her role in protecting Horus while he grew up among the reeds in the Nile. We can read this from the symbols they used to two mirrors were often part of the ritual offering two Hathor.
Egyptian's were not a people abandoned by their Gods. While the sub-religions and cults evolved and changed over the 3,000 year period of dynastic reign in Egypt, the overarching certainty was present in almost each set. Egyptian people lived their lives with their Gods present. Those 'myths' and 'legends' were not myths or stories, they were alive, and they were reenacted in the world. For example, when the moon goes through its waxing and waning phases, it was the reassembling of the Moon by Thoth, when the thunder roared, it was Seth roaring; when the plants began to grow it was the soul of Osiris rising. (Myth and Symbols in Ancient Egypt, 2000).
Their Gods represented the forces around them, those that they lived with every day. Life for Egyptians was an ever-present force, it was a living thing that swept the nation, existing in everything alive. When they looked upon a mirror, they may have found it to be a therapeutic connection to their community, society and being. They may have seen themselves as life manifest, a god-like force observing itself.
This is an interesting reflection on Lacan's Mirror theories.
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DISCOVER
Re-born?
Egyptology, Freud's possession and new life.
In the early 1900s, Egyptology was booming. National newspapers eagerly followed the excavations that were taking place at the Valley of the Kings in Cairo and there was a booming market trade for Egyptian artifacts. Freud's collections contain hundreds of Egyptian artifacts, some were gifts from friends and colleagues, some were bought, some were swapped among friends.
I don't know what this mirror meant to Freud, or why he acquired it, or even if he ever looked at it again after acquiring it. Maybe he was enamored with it, or maybe it was just one of many possessions. Either way, this mirror now has a new life, different from its original purpose. People often believe that objects in museums are 'dead' objects, dying when they are cut off from their original purpose and community. But could we not think that an object is on a journey, entering new life stages, existing and changing in the minds of each who look upon it. Maybe you think objects need to be handled more to be alive. Maybe you think this is all nonsense. Regardless, I want to know what's going on in that mind of yours.
I don't know when this mirror came into Freud's collection, but I can say that it assumed a new role in Britain and Europe during the 1920's. It became, not just an object of importance for scholars of Egyptology, or an object of purpose, but it became a symbolic object: a holder of a nation's obsession with the culture and climate that it had traveled down from.
Text me your response 07577951732
INTEPRETATION
When do you use mirrors? Do you have any with special meanings? Are objects in museums dead objects? Do you think the mirrors original conditions and context adds or detracts from Lacan's Mirror theories? Is KFC better than Nandos? Is everything relative?
Add your own images to the feed by tagging @weallliveinthefreudmuseum or #MIRRORSOFDAILYLIFE
Add images of mirror selfies, important and significant mirrors to you, or any responses you might have from around the museum. What symbols would you put on a mirror? Interpretation is open to everyone, and nothing is wrong!
I think Nandos is better than KFC if anyone was wondering....
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