Box Mirror with Head of Athena (lid)

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 (non-circular) shape; and the method of attachment, with rivets through the relief rather than solder.