Curatorial fellow Frances Gallart Marqués takes a close look at a selection of Etruscan bronze mirrors in the Harvard Art Museums collections, exploring what they can tell us about the people who made, used, and were buried with them.

This video is part of our Art Talks series, in which our team of curators, conservators, fellows, and graduate students share short, informal videos that offer an up-close look at works from the collections.

Led by:
Frances Gallart Marqués, Frederick Randolph Grace Curatorial Fellow in Ancient Art, Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art

Works explored:
Engraved tang mirror, Etruscan, late 4th century BCE. Bronze. Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Transfer from the Alice Corinne McDaniel Collection, Department of the Classics, Harvard University, 2012.1.60. 

Engraved circular hand mirror with animal head terminal, Etruscan, second half 3rd century BCE. Bronze. Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Dr. Harris Kennedy, Class of 1894, 1932.56.37.

Engraved hand mirror with ram’s head terminal, Etruscan, first half 3rd century BCE. Bronze. Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Transfer from the Department of the Classics, Harvard University, Bequest of Henry W. Haynes, 1912, 1977.216.2311.

Tang mirror with modern engraving and inscription, Etruscan, 5th–4th century BCE or modern. Bronze. Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Transfer from the Department of the Classics, Harvard University, 1977.216.3422.