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Mirror wth Orpheus
Italic, Etruscan
Late Classical Period
400–350 B.C.
Medium/Technique
Bronze
Dimensions
Diameter: 14.6 cm (5 3/4 in.)
Credit Line
Bartlett Collection—Museum purchase with funds from the Francis Bartlett Donation of 1912
Accession Number13.207
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsAncient Greece and Rome
ClassificationsTools and equipment – Cosmetic and medical
Catalogue Raisonné
Greek, Etruscan, & Roman Bronzes (MFA), no. 387; Sculpture in Stone and Bronze (MFA), p. 123 (additional published references).
DescriptionBronze circular tang mirror.
On the reverse of a mirror, there is a border of a double spray of laurel or olive leaves. Orpheus sits facing the right, on a rocky landscape. He is playing the lyre. Before him sits a doe. Behind Orpheus are two ravens. At the bottom center is a small spotted cat (panther?). At the bottom left is an open cista containing two alabastra. In the field, behind Orpheus, there is a laurel wreath.
Light green patina, with slight corrosion on the edges.
On the reverse of a mirror, there is a border of a double spray of laurel or olive leaves. Orpheus sits facing the right, on a rocky landscape. He is playing the lyre. Before him sits a doe. Behind Orpheus are two ravens. At the bottom center is a small spotted cat (panther?). At the bottom left is an open cista containing two alabastra. In the field, behind Orpheus, there is a laurel wreath.
Light green patina, with slight corrosion on the edges.
ProvenanceFound at Corchiano (see G. Korte, in Berliner philologische Wochenschrift, 1895, pp. 624-625; and Etruskische Spiegel, vol. 5, p. 211). By 1897: Count Michel Tyszkiewicz (b. 1828 - d. 1897), Paris. By 1913, Edward Perry Warren; purchased by MFA from Edward Perry Warren, January 2, 1913, for $18,948.70 (this figure is the total price for MFA 13.186-13.245)