Personal Mirror; lid
M10457
Information
Disc-shaped cover for a lid-mirror (Klappspiegel) made of two pieces has smooth back, lid worked with high relief scene on outer surface; the interior of the relief is filled with a lead-like substance to preserve its shape (probably ancient). The reflecting disc, now detached, is nearly flat and would have been kept highly polished; its outer surface is worked with sets of concentric grooves and ridges. The relief scene depicts the Recognition of Paris. (Paris, abandoned as an infant because of predictions of the Trojan War, returns to Troy as a young man and is recognized as royal – he defends himself on an altar from attempts to kill him, and the fate of Troy unravels.)
Said to be from Tarquinia.