Object Notes

The idea of the mummy mask, which was placed over the embalmed and shrouded body of a dead person, goes back in Egyptian art to the Middle Kingdom (early 2nd millennium B.C.E). Even earlier, "reserve heads," or magical portraits of the dead person, were left in Old Kingdom tombs.

The complex composition of this battle scene—with warriors, horses, captives, and trophies of armor intertwined to suggest the violence and bloodshed of war—is typical of Roman relief carvings during the Antonine period (138–192 CE).

This nobly restrained composite statue depicts a virtuous Roman matron of a distinguished family. She is commemorated as both a chaste wife and mother of children, and her portrait celebrates marriage as an enduring value and symbol of Roman life.

By the 1st century B.C., the city of Rome had become the center of a large empire covering the entire Mediterranean world. Like the Etruscans before them, the Romans admired Greek art; they carried Greek art treasures to Italy and patronized imitations or copies of Greek works.

Mirrors in antiquity were made of polished bronze. The scene engraved on the back shows a nude winged female figure standing by a plant and box and accompanied by a flute player.

Unlike the hard, intellectual clarity of form seen in Greek pottery, Etruscan ceramics have a soft and romantic quality.