The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of January 17, 2022

Mirror with Addorsed Sphinxes

1200s

Eastern Anatolia or Northern Mesopotamia, 12th-early 13th century

Cast bronze with relief decoration

Diameter: 10.6 cm (4 3/16 in.); Overall: 0.9 x 0.3 cm (3/8 x 1/8 in.); Rim: 0.4 cm (3/16 in.)

Gift of Drs. Thomas and Martha Carter in Honor of Sherman E. Lee 1995.402

Location

not on view

Inscriptions

Inscription

Arabic inscription in degenerate floriated angular script around rim. Inscription is poorly written, but is identical to that on mirrors in Kuwait al-Sabah Collection (LNS102M) and Musée des Arts Decoratifs (14918). Translation (from M. Jenkins, "The al-Sabah Collection," 1983, p. 69): Glory and continence and good fortune and splendor and high position and praise and happiness and nobility and power and increase and potency and blessings to its owner forever.

Provenance
?–1995
Thomas and Martha Carter, Madison, WI, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art
1995–
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Citations
Mackie, Louise W. Symbols of Power: Luxury Textiles from Islamic Lands, 7th-21st Century. Cleveland, OH; New Haven, CT: The Cleveland Museum of Art; Yale University Press, 2015. Reproduced: P. 151, fig. 4.23; Mentioned: P. 33, 151
Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1995.402