Inlay for a Mirror or Box: Lady and Mandolin
A woman with a high hair bun plays a long-necked lute while riding a phoenix-like bird whose wings and tail sweep across the composition. The silver is beaten thin and finely chased with feather lines and scales, with the face and sleeves rendered in incised detail.
Look closer: A curled tail tip of the bird, curving downward, is easy to overlook in the lower right.
- Artist
- Unknown
- Date
- c. 900–1000
- Medium
- beaten silver with chased details
- Source
- The Cleveland Museum of Art
- Size
- 3400 × 2196 px
Public domain · The Cleveland Museum of Art releases this image under CC0 (latest date 1005).
Rights checked 2026-11-05 · tier A · as stated by the source: CC0 (Cleveland Museum of Art Open Access, share_license_status=CC0)
Rights checked 2026-11-05 · tier A · as stated by the source: CC0 (Cleveland Museum of Art Open Access, share_license_status=CC0)
Credit (appreciated, not required for public-domain works): The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Eugene Victor Thaw