COLLECTION NAME:
The AMICA Library
Record
AMICA ID:
AIC_.1985.1042
AMICA Library Year:
1998
Object Type:
Decorative Arts and Utilitarian Objects
Creator Nationality:
European; Southern European; Roman
Creator Dates/Places:
Roman Republic and Empire
Creator Name-CRT:
Roman
Title:
Hand Mirror
Title Type:
preferred
View:
front view
Creation Date:
Imperial Period, 2nd century A.D.
Creation Start Date:
100
Creation End Date:
200
Materials and Techniques:
Gilded bronze
Classification Term:
Metalwork
Subject Description:
Artemis (the Roman Diana), or a Roman lady with divine fantasies, after her bath in a rustic, woodland setting, is the subject of the tondo in relief on the back of this Roman hand mirror. Her cloak is draped over the rocks on which she sits, and she holds the end wrapped around a small hand mirror in her raised left hand, a divine celebration of the uses of the mirror in a Roman household. The landscape in front of her, to the right, recalls the paintings and reliefs from houses around the Bay of Naplesbefore the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79. The quiver of the goddess leans against the base of a garlanded altar with a small herm on top. A second terminal figure, Priapis, the god of gardens and fertility, tilts back while facing to the right onthe ledge at the right. The bovine skull in the right foreground suggests the sacrifice after a successful hunt.
Creation Place:
Early Western World,Roman Republic and Empire
Dimensions:
Diam.: 11.8 cm (4-11/16 in.)
AMICA Contributor:
The Art Institute of Chicago
Owner Location:
Chicago, Illinois, USA
ID Number:
1985.1042
Credit Line:
The Art Institute of Chicago, Gift of Mr. & Mrs. James W. Alsdorf
Related Image Identifier Link:
AIC_.E10082.TIF
