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Three finely carved ivory mirror handles from Cyprus are closely related in form, subject matter, and style. To these we may now add a fourth example, albeit preserved only as a fragment. Found in the British excavations at Enkomi, this piece has been regarded hitherto as a pyxis fragment. Technical considerations prove that this cannot be the case and that the fragment must belong to a mirror handle, closely comparable to the famous ‘griffin-slayer’, also in the British Museum.
An ivory warrior head, discovered at the end of the last century in Enkomi Tomb 16, has often been mentioned and illustrated in the literature but it has never been the subject of a detailed study. Most interest has centred on whether the head represents a genuine Mycenaean carving or the survival of an Aegean motif in the Cypriote repertoire. Here form, function, material, carving technique and style are assessed, and comparisons are drawn with other warrior heads from Crete and mainland Greece. All evidence points conclusively to an Aegean origin for the Enkomi head.
