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Mirror Support: Athlete
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
A muscular nude youth strides forward on a square metal plate with his arms outstretched. The plate and the volute decoration that adorns his head suggest that this statuette was the support for a mirror. The youth is likely an athlete, as he holds an alabastron or oil vessel in his right hand. The oil may be an offering to the gods for victory, or to rub onto the skin to protect and beautify his body before an athletic contest. The mirror was made separately and would have been attached to the triangular tang above the athlete’s head.
Cleveland Museum of Art’s own descriptionCredit lineMirror Support: Athlete, 460–450 BCE. South Italy, Locri (?), Greek. Bronze; overall: 22.5 cm (8 7/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund, 1928.659
