Hand Mirror

Etruscan; probably Vulci →

early etruscanancientaccessories (object genre)bronze

Date

470-450 BCE

Medium

Bronze

Dimensions

16.8 × 15.1 × 0.7 cm (6 5/8 × 6 × 5/16 in.) (with tang)

Museum

Art Institute of Chicago

Location

Chicago, IL

Credit

Katherine K. Adler Memorial Fund

Found in women’s graves, bronze mirrors were luxurious personal possessions used in life and then buried with the dead for use in the afterlife. One side was highly polished; the other side was usually engraved with a mythic scene, such as this one, which shows the goddess Eos carrying the body of her son, Memnon, who was killed by the hero Achilles. The episode was taken from Homer’s The Iliad, the epic poem that narrates the Greek siege and eventual defeat of the city of Troy.

Also notable

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Votive (Gift) in the Shape of a Woman's Head

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Stemmed Kyathos (Drinking Cup)

Etruscan; probably Vulci

Oinochoe (Pitcher)

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Architectural Relief Depicting the Gigantomachy (Battle Between Gods and Giants)

Etruscan