Etruscan mirror with Achilles on a hippocamp, Vignanello, c.4th-3rd century BC
Bronze
Height 22.5, diameter: 16.4cm
12622
£ 48,000
Further images
The mirror depicts Achilles' journey to the Isle of the Blessed. It shows the warrior wearing an Attic helmet with a long flowing horse tail crest, a chlamys over his...
The mirror depicts Achilles' journey to the Isle of the Blessed. It shows the warrior wearing an Attic helmet with a long flowing horse tail crest, a chlamys over his shoulders and knotted at the chest. He is seated astride a hippocamp, a mythical part horse, part sea-creature, his right arm placed on the flanks of the beast supporting his weight, and accompanied by a dolphin. Filmy seaweed-like fins and tail to the creature. The polished side with viridian green encrustation to the majority of the surface. Above the handle flange is incised decoration of an palmette between acanthus leaves. The short metal flange would have been set into a handle of wood, bone or ivory, now lost. Some small losses to the raised rim of the decorated side.
Provenance
Reputedly from Vignanello, ItalyEllen J. Beer, Bern, Switzerland; acquired prior to 1967, thence by descent until 2026
