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This type of mirror was introduced throughout the Roman Empire by the 2nd century and remained popular into the 3rd and 4th centuries. Similar examples have been found in Germany and Britain. The handle is made of two thick pieces of silver wire, intertwined to form a Herakles knot--a knot so complex that only someone as strong as Herakles could break it. In antiquity, knots of various kinds were believed to provide protection from harm.

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Page
1
Source index
0
Type
photo
Media ID
786268eacb0b9ff4
Size
unknown

Document data

ID
133695
Core
obj
Type
object
DTO data
{
    "id": "133695",
    "contentType": "object",
    "title": "Mirror with a Handle in the Form of a Herakles Knot",
    "description": "This type of mirror was introduced throughout the Roman Empire by the 2nd century and remained popular into the 3rd and 4th centuries. Similar examples have been found in Germany and Britain. The handle is made of two thick pieces of silver wire, intertwined to form a Herakles knot--a knot so complex that only someone as strong as Herakles could break it. In antiquity, knots of various kinds were believed to provide protection from harm.",
    "date": "c. 280–400 CE",
    "citation": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1956.31",
    "rights": "CC0",
    "rightsUri": "CC0",
    "language": "en",
    "wikidata": [
        "Q60753107"
    ],
    "genreSpecific": [
        "Metalwork"
    ],
    "iiifBase": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1956.31/1956.31_web.jpg",
    "thumbnailUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1956.31/1956.31_web.jpg",
    "largeImageUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1956.31/1956.31_web.jpg",
    "imageCount": 1,
    "source": "import",
    "dimensionsRaw": "Diameter: 2.3 x 34.6 cm (7/8 x 13 5/8 in.)",
    "cul": [
        "Byzantium, Syria(?), Byzantine period"
    ],
    "accession": "1956.31"
}

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Document identity
{
    "localId": "133695",
    "label": "Mirror with a Handle in the Form of a Herakles Knot",
    "core": "obj",
    "dtoType": "object"
}
Document source metadata
{
    "id": "133695",
    "contentType": "object",
    "title": "Mirror with a Handle in the Form of a Herakles Knot",
    "description": "This type of mirror was introduced throughout the Roman Empire by the 2nd century and remained popular into the 3rd and 4th centuries. Similar examples have been found in Germany and Britain. The handle is made of two thick pieces of silver wire, intertwined to form a Herakles knot--a knot so complex that only someone as strong as Herakles could break it. In antiquity, knots of various kinds were believed to provide protection from harm.",
    "date": "c. 280–400 CE",
    "citation": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1956.31",
    "rights": "CC0",
    "rightsUri": "CC0",
    "language": "en",
    "wikidata": [
        "Q60753107"
    ],
    "genreSpecific": [
        "Metalwork"
    ],
    "iiifBase": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1956.31/1956.31_web.jpg",
    "thumbnailUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1956.31/1956.31_web.jpg",
    "largeImageUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1956.31/1956.31_web.jpg",
    "imageCount": 1,
    "source": "import",
    "dimensionsRaw": "Diameter: 2.3 x 34.6 cm (7/8 x 13 5/8 in.)",
    "cul": [
        "Byzantium, Syria(?), Byzantine period"
    ],
    "accession": "1956.31"
}
Document source extras
{
    "tec": "silver",
    "tombstone": "Mirror with a Handle in the Form of a Herakles Knot, c. 280–400 CE. Byzantium, Syria(?), Byzantine period. Silver; diameter: 2.3 x 34.6 cm (7/8 x 13 5/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund, 1956.31",
    "collection": "MED - Byzantine",
    "citations": [
        {
            "citation": "Maguire, Eunice Dauterman, Henry Maguire, and Maggie J. Duncan-Flowers. <em>Art and Holy Powers in the Early Christian House</em>. Urbana: Krannert Art Museum, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1989. p. 194."
        },
        {
            "citation": "Lerner, Judith. \"Horizontal-Handled Mirrors: East and West.\" <em>Metropolitan Museum Journal</em>, Volume 31(The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1996). pp. 11-40."
        },
        {
            "citation": "The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook.</em> Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958.",
            "page_number": "Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 47",
            "url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1958/page/n23"
        },
        {
            "citation": "Milliken, William. \"Early Byzantine Silver.\" <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art </em>45, no. 3 (March 1958): 35-40.",
            "page_number": "Mentioned: p. 37; Reproduced: p. 44",
            "url": "https://www.jstor.org/stable/25142265"
        }
    ],
    "url": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1956.31",
    "creditline": "Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund",
    "updatedAt": "2026-05-29 06:51:41.002000",
    "imageUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1956.31/1956.31_print.jpg",
    "sourceId": 133695,
    "dept": "Medieval Art",
    "coll": "MED - Byzantine",
    "med": "silver",
    "thumbnail_url": null,
    "image_url": null
}
Page context
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