Object Description
A finely modelled Near Eastern bronze horizontal handle, originally part of a mirror. The handle is formed by a cylindrical pole, terminating in the foreparts of two leaping griffins, emerging from a folded collar at each end of the pole. Beneath each collar a pedestal, featuring a squared-base and a short cylindrical basement, supports the pole. These two pedestals would have been attached to the mirror. The griffins reflect the typical Near Eastern stylistic manner of rendering zoomorphic creatures, with deep carvings suggesting facial and anatomical features.
Date: 2nd-10th century AD