Mirror Back with Great Goddess

Creator Name

--

Cultural Context

Guatemala(?), Escuintla, Teotihuacán style, Classic Period

Date

400–550 CE

About the work

Cleveland Museum of Art Object Description

An important female deity commands the watery scene on the back of this mirror. The face, bordered by ear ornaments and partially hidden by a nose ornament, appears beneath a huge headdress with the fringed eyes and curled proboscis of an abstract butterfly. The deity rests on a shell-studded water band and two adoring humans offer flowers or incense in a bag. Mirrors served as costume ornaments and perhaps were used in rituals to divine the unknown.

Work details

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Title

Mirror Back with Great Goddess

Creator

--

Worktype

Sculpture

Cultural Context

Guatemala(?), Escuintla, Teotihuacán style, Classic Period

Material

slate, pigment; other side originally inlaid with polished pyrite mirror

Dimensions

Overall: 20.1 x 0.2 cm (7 15/16 x 1/16 in.);
width: 0.201metre;
depth: 0.002metre

Technique

--

Language

--

Date

400–550 CE

Provenance

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH, 1989-; James Albert and Mary Gardiner Ford Memorial Fund

Style Period

--

Rights

Curationist Logo
CC0
CC0

Inscription

--

Location

--

Subject

--

Topic

--

All Works in Curationist’s archives can be reproduced and used freely. How to attribute this Work:

Mirror Back with Great Goddess, 400–550 CE, Cleveland Museum of Art. CC0.

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