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The Comb, Mirror, and Vanity Symbol

The mermaid with a comb and mirror is one of the most recognizable symbolic formulas in mermaid art. Far from being random accessories, the comb and mirror turn the mermaid into a moralized image of self-display, vanity, seductive danger, and the peril of surfaces. In manuscripts, church carvings, maps, and later folk tradition, this triad became a durable way of showing beauty as risk.