330–300 BC
Bronze
Overall: 36 cm (14 3/16 in.)
Gift of the John Huntington Art and Polytechnic Trust 1916.2012
The piriform shape of this mirror suggests that it was produced in Praeneste (modern Palestrina).
Cast in one piece, this bronze mirror features a handle terminating in a stylized deer head. The front side of the disc, once highly polished and reflective, would have served as a mirror, while the reverse—now on display—features an engraved figural scene. Best observed with the aid of a line drawing, this shows two standing women, both draped and looking at one another. Without inscriptions, their identities remain uncertain, but the crescent overhead and the upright spear held by the righthand figure suggest that they may be the goddesses Artumes (Artemis) and Menerfa (Athena).
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