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Mirror
Italic, Etruscan
Hellenistic Period
about 300 B.C.
Medium/Technique
Bronze
Dimensions
Length: 24 cm (9 7/16 in.), Diameter: 17 cm (6 11/16 in)
Credit Line
Catharine Page Perkins Fund
Accession Number96.715
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsAncient Greece and Rome
ClassificationsTools and equipment – Cosmetic and medical
Catalogue Raisonné
Greek, Etruscan, & Roman Bronzes (MFA), no. 379.
DescriptionOn the extension, at the base of a lotus-bud wreath, is a nude figure who appears to be stepping upward to the left.
On the medallion are three figures. The central figure is a partly draped female figure with high sandals and a diadem. She is flanked by a youth who holds his cloak in the right hand and throws the left end about the female. A winged, diademed, partly draped Lasa stands at the right. It is likely that the central female figure is Aphrodite (Etruscan, Turan) and the male youth one of his lovers, presumably Adonis. Fishes below corroborate the identification with Aphrodite, since the goddess was said to have been born from the sea and she is often connected with the maritime sphere. An acanthus scroll fills the tondo at the left, and there is a small scroll at the lower right. The lushness of nature is a reference to the love and fertility of the loving couple.
Muddy greenish patina.
On the medallion are three figures. The central figure is a partly draped female figure with high sandals and a diadem. She is flanked by a youth who holds his cloak in the right hand and throws the left end about the female. A winged, diademed, partly draped Lasa stands at the right. It is likely that the central female figure is Aphrodite (Etruscan, Turan) and the male youth one of his lovers, presumably Adonis. Fishes below corroborate the identification with Aphrodite, since the goddess was said to have been born from the sea and she is often connected with the maritime sphere. An acanthus scroll fills the tondo at the left, and there is a small scroll at the lower right. The lushness of nature is a reference to the love and fertility of the loving couple.
Muddy greenish patina.
ProvenanceBy date unknown: with Edward Perry Warren (according to Warren's records: From collection of Fanello Fanelli of Sarteano.); purchased by MFA from Edward Perry Warren, October 1896