# Hand Mirror

- By: Ancient Egyptian
- Date: New Kingdom, Dynasty 18 (about 1550–1295 BCE)
- Medium: Copper alloy
- Classification: Sculpture
- Dimensions: 20 × 10.3 × 2.2 cm (7 7/8 × 4 1/16 × 7/8 in.)
- Culture: Egypt
- Credit line: Gift of Henry H. Getty and Charles L. Hutchinson
- Museum: [Art Institute of Chicago](https://www.artic.edu/artworks/835)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://www.artic.edu/iiif/2/84bb4f73-a115-eacc-6299-d646d4e10208/full/!1920,1080/0/default.jpg
- Who can see it: Teens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

The round disk of this hand mirror was originally polished to a reflective sheen. The elegant shape of the handle references papyrus plants that grew in Egypt’s marshy regions. Together, the handle and disk evoke an image of the sun rising from a papyrus umbel (flower cluster), a symbol of the sun’s daily regeneration. The ancient Egyptian words for mirror and life are homonyms, so this object’s shape also playfully refers to the ankh hieroglyph used to write both words.

Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0