Roman, Early Imperial Period, 1st – 2nd century A.D.

Bronze and silver inlay

H: 9.8 cm (3.8 in)

Serial: 16454

Provenance: Ex- Christian Niederhuber, Vienna, 1998.

Published: Exotics of the Classical World, Phoenix Ancient Art, Geneva-New York, 2007, no. 14

This piece was solid cast using the lost wax technique; the eyes of the figure were inlaid in silver (only the right inlay is preserved). The top of the head, the hands and the feet are pierced by circular holes. This dwarf was attached to another object: it may have been a vessel with a figural handle, a candelabrum with a figural foot, or part of a group of statuettes of dwarves. The feet positioned one in front of the other, as if the dwarf was walking along a balance beam, do not provide the balance necessary for the statuette to stand on its own. 

The proportions of the figurine are typical of ancient representations of dwarves. Although the Ancients did not have the scientific means to differentiate between the types of deformities known under the term dwarfism, they categorized them according to their most evident physical symptoms: disproportionate limbs, very large heads, flat faces, prominent stomachs, malformation of the spine, a tendency towards obesity.

Among the different types known under this affliction, disproportionate dwarfism (achondroplasy) is the one that appears most frequently in nature as well as in Greco-Roman iconography: images of dwarves are generally distinguished by very short legs or arms and by an unusually large head, while the torso is often of normal size. Another frequent anomaly, although one that has no scientific basis, is the disproportionately large size of the genitals, which may simply have symbolized apotropaic power. Only two characteristics of dwarfism are evidently apparent in this statuette: the short legs with prominent, rounded buttocks, and a very long phallus.

The dwarf is represented standing, on the tips of his toes; his arms are raised to the sides and slightly to the left; his body is completely nude, but he seems to be wearing a cap; his hands and his fists are protected by three leather straps, which ancient boxers used instead of gloves. The torso features a well-developed musculature of the back as well as of the abdominals. All these highly realistic anatomic details are rendered with a remarkable three-dimensionality in the modeling, which alternates with the precision of the well-modeled volumes and small depressions. Contrary to the representations of dwarves executed by artisans of Alexandrian origin or from Asia Minor, which are often characterized by caricature-like traits, this statuette is a faithful image: the deformity of this man is rendered with realism and respect. Typologically, the posture of this dwarf is closest to the fighters painted on Panathenaic amphorae. He is in the middle of hopping on the tips of his toes to avoid the blows of his opponent, and he is about to throw a punch. In spite of some variations (arms crossed in self-defense or a slightly twisted torso), the same iconography is followed by other Roman images of dwarves. Chronologically, it is necessary to date this statuette to the first centuries of the Common Era.

CONDITION: Complete except for the left eye inlay; a few tiny dents; a circular shallow recess in the middle of the head, probably for an attachment.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

On dwarves in Antiquity, see:

DASEN V., Dwarfs in Ancient Egypt and Greece, 1993.

COMSTOCK M.- VERMEULE C., Greek, Etruscan and Roman Bronzes in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Boston, 1971, p. 128, no. 143.

DE RIDDER A., Bronzes antiques du Louvre, T. 1, Les figurines, Paris, 1913, nos. 703-708.