Hand Mirror with the Dioscuri and King Amykos

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Hand Mirror with the Dioscuri and King Amykos

Place of OriginItaly, excavated in Palestrina (ancient Praeneste)

Date300-200 BCE

Dimensions12 1/2 × 6 3/4 × 3 1/8 in. (31.7 × 17.1 × 8 cm)
4 3/4 × 1/4 × 1/4 in.

MediumCast bronze with incised decoration

ClassificationMetalwork

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

Object number

1980.1340

On View

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

Collections

Decorative Arts

Published ReferencesHelbig, Karl Friedrich Wolfgang, Bullettino dell'Instituto di corrispondenza archeologica, Rome, 1869, p. 14.

Heydemann, Heinrich Gustav Dieudonné, "Specchi Etruschi," Annales de l'institut de correspondance archaeologique, Rome, 1869, pp. 193-200, esp. p. 199.

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Monumenti inediti pubblicati dall'instituto di correspondenza archaeologica, Rome, 1869-1873, vol. IX, p. 7, tav. VII, no. 3.

Garrucci, Rafaelle, Sylloge inscriptionum Latinarum, 1877, no. 530. Rayet, Olivier, Gazette des Beaux-Arts, vol. 18, 1878, pp. 367, 370.

Catalogue d'objets d'art et de haute curiosité de la collection de Benjamin Fillon: Vente, Hôtel Drouot, 20–24 mars 1882, Paris, p. 26, no. 11; illustration on p. 27.

Lattes, Elia, “Le iscrizioni paleolatine dei fittili e dei bronzi di provenienza etrusca,” Rivista di Filologia e di Istruzione Classica, vol. 21, Torino, 1893, no. 113.

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Matthies, Gustav, Die Praenestinischen Spiegel, Leipzig, B.G. Teubner, 1912, p. 73, fig. 12.

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Lommatzsch, Cora Ernesti; Mommsen, Theodoro (ed.), Inscriptiones Latinae Antiquissimae ad C. Caesaris Mortem, Berlin, 1918, fasc. I, p. 428, no. 548.

Giglioli, Giulio Quirimo, L'Arte Etrusca, Milan, 1935, pl. CCCIV, 3, p. 57.

Marchese, Luigi, “Il mito di Àmico nell’arte figurata – Fortuna di un mito greco nell’arte etrusca,” Studi Etruschi, vol. 18, 1944, p. 57, fig. 2.

Beazley, John D., Etruscan Vase Painting, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1947, p. 58.

Howe, Thalia Phillies, “Sophokles, Mikon and the Argonauts,” American Journal of Archaeology, vol. 61, no. 4, 1957, p. 344, n. 20, pl. 102, fig. 3.

Sapelli, Maria, “Temi letterari nei graffiti prenestini,” Acme, vol. 28, 1975, pp. 243–244, fig. 12.

Maccabruni, Claudia, “Recupero di un noto specchio prenestino,” Numismatica e Antichità Classiche. Quaderni Ticinesi, vol. 6, 1977, pp. 53–71, pls. 1–3.

Sotheby & Co., Catalogue of Antiquities, London, 15 July 1980, pp. 54–55, lot 99.

Weis, Harriett Anne, “The Motif of the Adligatus and Tree: A Study in the Sources of Pre-Roman Iconography,” American Journal of Archaeology, vol. 86, no. 1, 1982, pp. 33–34, no. 6.

Bonfante, Larissa, "Corpus Speculorum Etruscorum," [review of four fascicules] American Journal of Archaeology, vol. 88, no. 2, Apr. 1984, p. 280.

Bonfante, Larissa, ed., Etruscan Life and Afterlife, Detroit, 1986, p. 270, fig. VIII - 55.

Richardson, Bemeline H., "The tree and the spring: the story of Amycus and the Dioscuri," Archaeological News, vol. 13, no. 3/4, Fall/Winter 1984, pp. 57-67, fig. 1-4.

DePuma, Richard D., Corpus Speculorum Etruscorum, U.S.A. l: Midwestern collections, Ames, IA, 1986, p. 56-58, pl. 39 a-d, p. 208-211.

Lexicon iconographicum mythologiae classicae (LIMC), Zürich, 1981-1999, vol. I, pt. 1, p. 740, no. 13, vol. III, pt. 1, p. 605, no. 87.

Carpino, Alexandra A., “Greek Mythology in Etruria: An Iconographic Analysis of Three Etruscan Relief Mirrors,” in Hall, John Franklin (ed.), Etruscan Italy: Etruscan Influences on the Civilizations of Italy from Antiquity to the Modern Era, Provo, UT, Museum of Art, Brigham Young University, 1996, pp. 73, 87, fig. 8.

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Franchi De Bellis, Annalisa, Iscrizioni prenestine su specchi e ciste, Allesandria, Ed. dell'Orso, 2005, pp. 32-39, pl. IIa and b.

Exhibition HistoryToledo Museum of Art, The Museum Collects: Treasures by Sculptors and Craftsmen, December 7, 1980 - January 25, 1981, p. 12-13, repr.Label TextModern mirrors are made by coating the reverse side of a piece of glass with a thin layer of reflective metal like silver or aluminum. Ancient mirrors, however, were highly polished pieces of metal, usually bronze or silver. They were expensive luxuries for the wealthy and were often highly decorated on the reverse (non-reflective) side. This mirror features an engraved design showing the twin heroes Castor and Polydeuces (called Pollux by the Romans) with King Amykus. The incised names are among the earliest examples of writing in Latin. When new, this mirror was golden in color, and the incised decoration would have been easy to see. Centuries of corrosion have made the decoration far less visible, so white pigment has been inserted in the lines to make it possible to read the details.