Mirror

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This was cast in two pieces and a tang at the bottom of the disk was inserted into the handle and held in place with a rivet. The handle is in the form of a stylized papyrus plant, a symbol of creative female power, and brings to mind the papyrus swamp, which in Egyptian mythology was associated with regeneration. The mirror belongs to a set of cosmetic equipment (26.7.837a–d) that includes a razor and whetstone, tweezers, and a kohl tube (26.7.1447). All of these items were found in a basket placed in a tomb for the use of the owner's spirit.

Egyptian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Met collection of ancient Egyptian art consists of approximately 30,000 objects of artistic, historical, and cultural importance, dating from about 300,000 BCE to the 4th century CE. A signifcant percentage of the collection is derived from the Museum's three decades of archaeological work in Egypt, initiated in 1906 in response to increasing interest in the culture of ancient Egypt.

Metropolitan Museum of Art