The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 29, 2024

Caryatid Mirror

Caryatid Mirror

c. 1540–1296 BCE
Overall: 38.9 x 20 cm (15 5/16 x 7 7/8 in.); Figure: 16.7 x 4 cm (6 9/16 x 1 9/16 in.); Disk: 16.6 cm (6 9/16 in.)
Location: 107 Egyptian

Did You Know?

When they were made, this mirror was polished to a brilliant shine; the marvelous colored patina it has since acquired is the result of being buried for years in the ground.

Description

This superb mirror has an oval disk and a handle in the form of a nubile young girl, entirely naked except for her elaborately braided tripartite wig, broad collar, and a girdle of wallet beads. She stands on a cruciform base, with her left foot slightly advanced and her hands at her sides. On her head and supporting the disk is a papyrus umbel with flaring tips. Mirrors with handles in the form of naked young girls were the height of fashion in mid-Dynasty 18; numerous examples exist. This mirror is perhaps the finest of its kind. The cruciform base is unusual, if not unique. The iconography is understandable in relation to the goddess Hathor, the embodiment of love and beauty. A multifaceted goddess, she was equated with Aphrodite by the Greeks. The retinue of Hathor consisted precisely of such beauties, called nefrut in Egyptian, and the mirror itself, that reflection of beauty, appears to have had Hathorian connections from early times.
  • Claude Anet/Jean Schopfer (1868-1931), Paris, France
    1983-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Turner, Evan H. "Year in Review for 1983." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 71, no. 2 (1984). p. 45 www.jstor.org
    Kozloff, Arielle P. "Mirror, Mirror." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 71, no. 8 (1984). pp. 271-6, cover, figs. 3-4 www.jstor.org
    Cleveland Museum of Art. Images of the Mind. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1987. Reproduced: [p.16]
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1991. Reproduced: p. 4 archive.org
    J. Paul Getty Museum, and Getty Conservation Institute. In the Tomb of Nefertari: Conservation of the Wall Paintings. [Malibu, Calif.]: J. Paul Getty Museum, 1992. No. 10
    Cleveland Museum of Art. Masterpieces from East and West. New York, NY: Rizzoli International, 1992. p. 16
    Edward H. Merrin Gallery, Vicki Solia, and Linda Schildkraut. Egypt at the Merrin Gallery. New York: Merrin Gallery, 1992. no. 2
    Kozloff, Arielle P. Egypt’s Dazzling Sun: Amenhotep III and his world. Cleveland : Cleveland Museum of Art in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1992. Reproduced: fig. 84a, p. 358
    Berman, Lawrence M. " La Collection Egyptienne du Cleveland Museum of Art," Bulletin de la Société française d'égyptologie 134 (October 1995). p. 28, fig. 9
    Berman, Lawrence M., and Kenneth J. Bohač. Catalogue of Egyptian Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1999 Reproduced: p. 301, Color p. 56; Mentioned: p. 301-302
  • In the Tomb of Nefertari: Conservation of the Wall Paintings. The J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, CA (12 November 1992-21 February 1993).
    Mirrors: Art and Symbol. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 3-November 18, 1984).
    The Year in Review for 1983. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 22-April 8, 1984).
  • {{cite web|title=Caryatid Mirror|url=false|author=|year=c. 1540–1296 BCE|access-date=29 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1983.196