Mirror with Addorsed Sphinxes

1200s

Maker Unknown

Islamic Art

Mirror with Addorsed Sphinxes, 1200s. Eastern Anatolia or Northern Mesopotamia, 12th-early 13th century. Cast bronze with relief decoration; diameter: 10.6 cm (4 3/16 in.); overall: 0.9 x 0.3 cm (3/8 x 1/8 in.); rim: 0.4 cm (3/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Drs. Thomas and Martha Carter in Honor of Sherman E. Lee 1995.402

Original Source

Maker/Artist: Maker Unknown
Classification: Metalwork
Formatted Medium: Cast bronze with relief decoration
Medium: cast, bronze, relief, decoration
Dimensions: Diameter: 10.6 cm (4 3/16 in.); Overall: 0.9 x 0.3 cm (3/8 x 1/8 in.); Rim: 0.4 cm (3/16 in.)
Inscribed: Inscription: Arabic inscription in degenerate floriated angular script around rim. Inscription is poorly written, but is identical to that on mirrors in Kuwait al-Sabah Collection (LNS102M) and Musée des Arts Decoratifs (14918). Translation (from M. Jenkins, "The al-Sabah Collection," 1983, p. 69): Glory and continence and good fortune and splendor and high position and praise and happiness and nobility and power and increase and potency and blessings to its owner forever.