Cleveland Museum of Art

Caryatid Mirror

Date

c. 1540–1296 BCE

Medium

bronze with black copper inlay?

Culture

Egypt, New Kingdom (1540–1069 BCE), Dynasty 18

Department

Egyptian and Ancient Near Eastern Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

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. 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.

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