The integration of three-dimensional figures into the design of a functional object is a hallmark of Greek art. A variety of elements–human, animal, and mythological–animate this mirror disk. A statuette of a woman standing on a base supports the mirror. Her simple woolen peplos falls in columnar folds. Her serious expression and quiet stance are typical of the restrained early Classical statues that were created from about 480 to 450 B.C. Two winged Erotes hover about her head. A hound chases a hare up either side of the disk; a siren, part bird and part woman, perches on the top.
#1043. Bronze mirror with a support in the form of a draped woman
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Artwork Details
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Title:Bronze mirror with a support in the form of a draped woman
Period:Classical
Date:mid-5th century BCE
Culture:Greek, Argive
Medium:Bronze
Dimensions:15 15/16 in., 2 lb. (40.4 cm, 0.9 kg)
Classification:Bronzes
Credit Line:Bequest of Walter C. Baker, 1971
Object Number:1972.118.78
[With Jean Mikas, Athens and Paris]; November 27, 1925, acquired by Joseph Brummer, purchased through Hôtel Drouot, Paris; [1925-1927, with Joseph Brummer, New York (P2299)]; 1927, acquired by William Randolph Hearst, purchased from Joseph Brummer; 1927-1941, collection of William R. Hearst, New York and San Simeon; January 20, 1941, purchased by Joseph Brummer from William R. Hearst (International Studio Arts Corporation) (N4874); February 18, 1941, acquired by Mrs. Walter C. Baker (May Ida Case), purchased from Joseph Brummer; 1941-1946, collection of Mrs. Walter C. Baker (d. 1946), New York; 1946-1971, collection of Walter C. Baker, New York; acquired in 1971, bequest of Walter C. Baker.
von Bothmer, Dietrich and René d'Harnoncourt. 1950. Greek, Etruscan, and Roman Antiquities: An Exhibition from the Collection of Walter Cummings Baker, Esq. no. 30, p. 8, pl. 9, New York: Walter Cummings Baker.
Fogg Museum, Harvard Art Museums. 1954. Ancient art in American private collections. A loan exhibition at the Fogg Art Museum of Harvard University, December 28, 1954-February 15, 1955. no. 215, pl. 64, Cambridge, Mass: Fogg Museum, Harvard Art Museums.
1955. Archäologischer Anzeiger, : p. 313 n. 4.
Richter, Gisela M. A. 1959. Handbook of Greek Art. p. 208, fig. 315, London: Phaidon Press.
Eckstein, F. 1959. "Zwei Amerikanische Kataloge." Gnomon, 31(7): p. 642.
Cahn, Herbert A. 1960. "Antike Kunstwerke aus New-Yorker Privatsammlungen." Antike Kunst, 3(2): p. 90, fig. 4, pl. 17.
von Bothmer, Dietrich. 1961. Ancient Art from New York Private Collections: Catalogue of an Exhibition held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, December 17, 1959–February 28, 1960. no. 139, p. 36, pl. 49, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
von Bothmer, Dietrich. 1975. "Greek and Roman Art." Notable Acquisitions (Metropolitan Museum of Art), No. 1965/1975: p. 119.
Walter-Karydi, Elena. 1976. "Eine parische Peplophoros in Delphi." Jahrbuch des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, 91: p. 2ff., figs. 2.2, 4.2.
Tölle-Kastenbein, Renate. 1980. Frühklassische Peplosfiguren, Originale. no. 4e, pp.33, 35, 73f, 174, 273, 294, 297f, 323, pl. 19, Mainz am Rhein: Verlag Philipp von Zabern.
Congdon, Lenore O. Keene. 1981. Caryatid Mirrors of Ancient Greece: Technical, Stylistic and Historical Considerations of an Archaic and Early Classical Bronze Series. no. 83, pl. 77 a, b, Mainz: Verlag Philipp von Zabern.
Martelli, Marina Cristofani. 1983. "Il 'Marte' di Ravenna." Xenia Antiqua, 6: p. 11, fig. 16.
Mertens, Joan R. 1985. "Greek Bronzes in the Metropolitan Museum of Art." Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 43(2): no. 38, pp. 10, 12, 38, 41, 44–45.
Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1987. Greece and Rome. no. 40, pp. 9, 58–59, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Mattusch, Carol. 1996. The Fire of Hephaistos : Large Classical Bronzes from North American Collections p. 106, fig. 4, Cambridge, Mass: Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Harvard Art Museums.
Barr-Sharrar, Beryl. 1996. "The Private Use of Small Bronze Sculpture." The Fire of Hephaistos: Large Classical Bronzes from North American Collections, Carol Mattusch, ed. p. 106, fig. 4, Cambridge: Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Harvard Art Museums.
Manchester, Karen. 1999. "The New Greek and Roman Galleries at the Metropolitan Museum of Art." Apollo, 150: p. 11, fig. 16.
Hemingway, Seán. 2006. "Reflections on the Classical Greek Bronze Caryatid Mirrors." Genethlion : anamnēstikos tomos gia tēs symplērōsē eikosi chonōn leitourgias tou Mouseiou Kykladikēs Technēs, Prof. Nicholas C. Stampolidis, ed. pp. 203–10, figs.1, 6–7, Athēna: Mouseio Kykladikes Technês.
Mertens, Joan R., Dr. 2006. "The Baker Mirror in The Metropolitan Museum of Art: An Archaic View." Genethlion : anamnēstikos tomos gia tēs symplērōsē eikosi chonōn leitourgias tou Mouseiou Kykladikēs Technēs, Prof. Nicholas C. Stampolidis, ed. pp. 211–18, figs.1, 2, Athēna: Mouseio Kykladikes Technês.
Picón, Carlos A. 2007. Art of the Classical World in the Metropolitan Museum of Art: Greece, Cyprus, Etruria, Rome no. 131, pp. 119, 431, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Metropolitan Museum of Art. 2012. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide. p. 70, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Hemingway, Seán. 2021. How to Read Greek Sculpture. no. 15, pp. 24, 32, 84–86, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
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The Museum's collection of Greek and Roman art comprises more than 30,000 works ranging in date from the Neolithic period to the time of the Roman emperor Constantine's conversion to Christianity in A.D. 312.
