A GREEK PARCEL GILT SILVER MIRROR

HELLENISTIC PERIOD, CIRCA 2ND-1ST CENTURY B.C.

Details

A GREEK PARCEL GILT SILVER MIRROR
HELLENISTIC PERIOD, CIRCA 2ND-1ST CENTURY B.C.
Disk-shaped, the obverse highly polished, the reverse set with a repoussé sheet in high relief depicting Aphrodite about to punish Eros for breaking an alabastron, the goddess threatening with the sandal removed from her right foot, held in her right hand, leaning forward on her stool, supporting herself with her left hand on the corner of the cushion, her right foot forward, the left leg bent back with her sandaled foot on a footstool, a himation around her waist and legs, bracelets on each wrist, a hand-mirror on the cushion behind her, winged Eros cowering before her with his hands raised to his lips, the broken vessel on the ground between them, a second Eros crouching beneath her stool, enclosed by a wreath of oak leaves, preserving gilding for the wreath, hair, wings, drapery, sandal, alabastron and footstool
6 3/8 in. (16.1 cm.) diameter
12.055 oz (374.8 g)

Provenance

Private Collection, Germany, acquired in the 1990s.

Brought to you by

G. Max Bernheimer

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Lot Essay

This silver disk was originally one half of a so-called klappspiegel, or folding hand mirror, and would have been hinged to a second disk, which, when closed, would protect the polished reflecting surface. For a similar example from Taras, with Aphrodite similarly clad, seated amidst Erotes playing music, see no. 9 in De Juliis, ed., Gli Ori di Taranto in Età Ellenistica. For the subject of Aphrodite punishing Eros with a sandal, see the Apulian lebes gamikos in Taranto, no. 1253 in Delivorrias, et al., "Aphrodite," in LIMC.

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