Mirror

Ancient Egyptian women used cosmetic accessories, such as ointments, perfumes, eye-paints, razors and mirrors, to make their appearance more attractive, in this way practicing their profession of being a woman or a wife.

The handle of the bronze mirror, which is somewhat clumsily modelled at certain points, depicts a naked, almost childlike female figure, holding the mirror plate, symbolising the solar disc, in her arms, as a caryatid. Young female figures may have appeared as ornaments on mirror handles, imitating the personal handmaids of wealthier women, capturing their role in getting ready in the morning. They also had fertility and afterlife rebirth symbolism associated with the goddess Hathor. The role of the mirrors in supporting women being attractive also based on the idea that the primary purpose in ancient Egypt was to ensure fertility and continuity of life. The mirrors were also carried by women to the afterlife, but there were found mirrors also in men’s tombs, symbolically supporting rejuvenation.