Naked as a jaybird apart from a choker necklace and baldric over one shoulder, this mirror handle is an utter oddity of the late 6th century B.C. – bucking the convention of demurely draped females that persisted until famous sculptural innovations two centuries later.
She holds a pomegranate in one hand, but perhaps more telling are the snarling (can beasts with beaks snarl, anyway?) griffins perched on each shoulder and the hapless lion she stands on. These beasties seem to associate her with the longstanding Near Eastern imported tradition of “Mistress of Animals” (“Potnia Theron”), later associated with both Artemis and Aphrodite.
Her identity has perplexed scholars and bemused onlookers for decades – confounding any attempts of slotting her into an easy category. Stylistically she seems have been made in a Lakonian (Spartan) workshop (the real masters of Archaic bronze casting) and this is an impeccable example. Her girlish, sporty anatomy seems to track with this , as Spartan girls famously took part in athletic training. And I think it also bolsters attempts to cinch her ID as Artemis, that eternally virginal goddess.
Perhaps she will always be an enigma, and an important one. Seek her out at the Met next time you are soaking in those gorgeous galleries!
