Skip to Content
Closed now, next open Thursday. Closed now, next open Thursday.

Hand Mirror

A work made of bronze.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

Image actions

  • A work made of bronze.

Date:

470-450 BCE

Artist:

Etruscan; probably Vulci

About this artwork

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.

Status

On View, Gallery 151

Department

Arts of the Ancient Mediterranean and Byzantium

Culture

Ancient Etruscan

Title

Hand Mirror

Place

Vulci (Object made in)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

470 BCE–450 BCE

Medium

Bronze

Dimensions

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

Credit Line

Katherine K. Adler Memorial Fund

Reference Number

1984.1341

IIIF Manifest  The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.

https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/103304/manifest.json

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

Share

Sign up for our enewsletter to receive updates.

Learn more

Image actions

Share