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The ancient Greek box mirror resembles a modern, hinged makeup compact in design. While the actual mirror is the top of the bottom half of the box—a highly polished cast-bronze disk—the cover often bears relief decoration. This example features a helmeted head of Athena, a virgin war goddess not typically associated with implements of beauty. Several other aspects suggest that this Athena may have been repurposed from another object in antiquity: the striking difference in patina between relief and case; the irregular (noncircular) shape; and the method of attachment, with rivets through the relief rather than solder.
Page data
- Page
- 1
- Source index
- 0
- Type
- photo
- Media ID
- 57e22c884f6da792
- Size
- unknown
Document data
- ID
- 147041
- Core
- obj
- Type
- object
DTO data
{
"id": "147041",
"contentType": "object",
"title": "Box Mirror with Head of Athena",
"description": "The ancient Greek box mirror resembles a modern, hinged makeup compact in design. While the actual mirror is the top of the bottom half of the box—a highly polished cast-bronze disk—the cover often bears relief decoration. This example features a helmeted head of Athena, a virgin war goddess not typically associated with implements of beauty. Several other aspects suggest that this Athena may have been repurposed from another object in antiquity: the striking difference in patina between relief and case; the irregular (noncircular) shape; and the method of attachment, with rivets through the relief rather than solder.",
"date": "330–270 BCE",
"citation": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1972.66",
"rights": "CC0",
"rightsUri": "CC0",
"language": "en",
"wikidata": [
"Q60779409"
],
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],
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"largeImageUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1972.66/1972.66_web.jpg",
"imageCount": 1,
"source": "import",
"dimensionsRaw": "Diameter: 11.3 cm (4 7/16 in.)",
"cul": [
"Greece, Hellenistic period"
],
"accession": "1972.66"
}
Context sent to Scholar
Document identity
{
"localId": "147041",
"label": "Box Mirror with Head of Athena",
"core": "obj",
"dtoType": "object"
}
Document source metadata
{
"id": "147041",
"contentType": "object",
"title": "Box Mirror with Head of Athena",
"description": "The ancient Greek box mirror resembles a modern, hinged makeup compact in design. While the actual mirror is the top of the bottom half of the box—a highly polished cast-bronze disk—the cover often bears relief decoration. This example features a helmeted head of Athena, a virgin war goddess not typically associated with implements of beauty. Several other aspects suggest that this Athena may have been repurposed from another object in antiquity: the striking difference in patina between relief and case; the irregular (noncircular) shape; and the method of attachment, with rivets through the relief rather than solder.",
"date": "330–270 BCE",
"citation": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1972.66",
"rights": "CC0",
"rightsUri": "CC0",
"language": "en",
"wikidata": [
"Q60779409"
],
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"Metalwork"
],
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"thumbnailUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1972.66/1972.66_web.jpg",
"largeImageUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1972.66/1972.66_web.jpg",
"imageCount": 1,
"source": "import",
"dimensionsRaw": "Diameter: 11.3 cm (4 7/16 in.)",
"cul": [
"Greece, Hellenistic period"
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"accession": "1972.66"
}
Document source extras
{
"tec": "bronze, partially gilt",
"tombstone": "Box Mirror with Head of Athena, 330–270 BCE. Greece, Hellenistic period. Bronze, partially gilt; diameter: 11.3 cm (4 7/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund, 1972.66",
"collection": "GR - Greek",
"didYouKnow": "Athena, the virgin goddess of war and craft, rarely appears on mirrors.",
"citations": [
{
"citation": "Cooney, John D. “Deluxe Toilet Objects.” <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 60, no. 7 (1973): 215–21.",
"url": "http://www.jstor.org/stable/25152486"
},
{
"citation": "The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 25",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1978/page/n45"
},
{
"citation": "The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1991.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 9",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1991/page/n24"
},
{
"citation": "Schwarzmeier, Agnes. \"A Greek Box Mirror in the Cleveland Museum of Art.\" <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 80, no. 9 (1993): 354-67.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: cover, p. 354, 356; Mentioned: p. 354-67",
"url": "www.jstor.org/stable/25161429"
},
{
"citation": "Schwarzmaier, Agnes. 1997. <em>Griechische Klappspiegel : Untersuchungen Zu Typologie Und Stil. Mitteilungen Des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, Athenische Abteilung,</em> 18. Beiheft. Berlin: Mann.",
"page_number": "P. 270, Kat. 89, Taf. 68.1."
}
],
"url": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1972.66",
"creditline": "Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund",
"sketchfabId": "e543b1b4f50f446e9aa3049f5ddb7fbb",
"sketchfabUrl": "https://sketchfab.com/models/e543b1b4f50f446e9aa3049f5ddb7fbb",
"updatedAt": "2026-06-18 21:17:58.664000",
"imageUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1972.66/1972.66_print.jpg",
"sourceId": 147041,
"dept": "Greek and Roman Art",
"coll": "GR - Greek",
"med": "bronze, partially gilt",
"thumbnail_url": null,
"image_url": null
}
Page context
{
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}