Mirror
2nd century
Medium
Reflective disk: bronze; repoussé disk: brass
Dimensions
0.9 × 11.8 cm (3/8 × 4 11/16 in.)
Classification
mirror
Department
Arts of Greece, Rome, and Byzantium
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
104999
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
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 ...
About the Artist
Ancient Roman
The artists attributed to "Ancient Roman" in museum collections represent the anonymous craftsmen who produced the vast output of sculpture, frescoes, mosaics, and reliefs defining Roman visual culture from the Republic (c. 509–27 BCE) to the late Empire (c. 395 CE). Individual identities remain elusive, as Roman makers were typically viewed as skilled tradesmen—often enslaved Greeks or provincial...