Mirror Back with Great Goddess

Description

An important female deity commands the watery scene on the back of this mirror. The face, bordered by ear ornaments and partially hidden by a nose ornament, appears beneath a huge headdress with the fringed eyes and curled proboscis of an abstract butterfly. The deity rests on a shell-studded water band and two adoring humans offer flowers or incense in a bag. Mirrors served as costume ornaments and perhaps were used in rituals to divine the unknown.

Provenance

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (1989-)

Mirror Back with Great Goddess

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400–550 CE

Accession Number

1989.65

Medium

slate, pigment; other side originally inlaid with polished pyrite mirror

Dimensions

Overall: 20.1 x 0.2 cm (7 15/16 x 1/16 in.)

Classification

Sculpture

Museum

The Cleveland Museum of Art

Cleveland, United States

Credit Line

James Albert and Mary Gardiner Ford Memorial Fund