Compact Mirror

Place of OriginGreece, from southern Italy

Dateabout 320 BCE

Dimensionsmirror disc: 5 7/16 × 5 1/2 × 5 1/2 × 3/8 in. (13.8 × 14 × 14 × 1 cm)
cover: 5 3/8 × 5 × 5 1/4 × 1 3/8 in. (13.7 × 12.7 × 13.3 × 3.5 cm)

MediumBronze with tin

ClassificationMetalwork

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1966.111A-B

On View

Toledo Museum of Art (2445 Monroe Street), Gallery, 02, Classic

DescriptionCover ornamented with repoussé relief of female head in profile. Underside of cover ornamented with a kneeling Aphrodite. Reverse of mirror disc incised with concentric circles.

Label TextIn order to protect the tin-plated reflecting surface from damage (opposite the concentric rings), the two parts of this mirror were hinged together. The cover is decorated with a separately made profile head of a woman with elegant hair and jewelry—probably Aphrodite, goddess of love and beauty. The underside of the cover (most easily viewed by looking into the mirror underneath the two halves) has an engraved drawing of the goddess crouching beside a bathing basin in a cave, perhaps representing a rural sanctuary dedicated to her.Published ReferencesToledo Museum of Art, "Treasures for Toledo," Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, new series, vol. 12, no. 4, Winter 1969, repr.

Cooney, John D., "Deluxe toilet objects," Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 60, no. 7, Sept. 1973, pp. 219-221, repr. fig. 8, 9, p. 221.

Schwarzmaier, Agnes, "Griechisches Klappspiegek," Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archaologischen Instituts Athenische Abteilung, Beiheft, 1997, pp. 15, 46, 47, 132, 135, 136, 156, 191, 195, 212, 279, 300, 331, Taf. 64.1 and 82.2.

Exhibition HistoryAnn Arbor, Kelsey Museum of Archaeology and The University of Michigan Museum of Art, The Villa of the Mysteries in Pompeii: ancient ritual, modern muse, 2000, no. 3, pp. 153-154, repr.Comparative ReferencesSee also Richter, G.M.A., A Handbook of Greek Art, London, 1960, pp. 208, 209, figs. 313, 314.

cf. Zücher, Wolfgang, Griechische Klappspiegel, Berlin, Walter de Gruyter & Co., 1932.

cf. Rolley, C., Monumenta Graeca et Romana, vol. 5, Greek Minor Arts, fasc. 1, The Bronzes, Leiden, 1967, no. 171, fig. 171.