Greek, middle of the 4th century B.C.

Terracotta

H: 8.9 cm

Serial: 13749

The man is seated on a stool covered by a wavy fabric. The mask and the short dotted tunic, which does not cover the genitals, characterize this figure as an actor. He is in the position of a “thinker”, with his legs spread, his left arm resting on his knee, while his right hand, placed under his chin, supports the head as though deep in thought and planning a ruse.

Typologically, this kind of figure is used in Old and Middle Comedy to designate a slave - especially the intelligent, cunning slave -, who played a key role later in the New Comedy. His prominent buttocks and rounded stomach are certainly padded, the disproportionate phallus is artificial.

In spite of the miniature size of the statuette, the mask is molded and modeled with remarkable accuracy: the open mouth with the large puckered lips, the flattened nose, the wrinkled cheeks and forehead, the almond-shaped eyes, the incised hair locks. The man has pointed ears, like those of a satyr, an unusual detail.

This statuette can certainly be related to a famous group of terracottas in the Metropolitan Museum that come from an Athenian tomb and represent an important and rare evidence of the Middle Comedy. All these objects would have belonged to various theater plays that cannot longer be identified today.

CONDITION

Virtually complete, except for minor fragments now lost (right foot, posterior part of the base); surface in good condition, still retaining traces of a white slip and of red pigment. Old label glued to the inside.

PUBLISHED

Exotics of the Classical World, Geneva-New York, 2007, no. 34.

WEBSTER T.B.L., Monuments illustrating Old and Middle Comedy, Third Edition revised and enlarged by J.R. Green, London, 1978, pp. 58-59, AT 22f.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

BIEBER M., The History of the Greek and Roman Theater, Princeton, 1961, pp. 45-48, fig. 198.

TRENDALL A.D. - WEBSTER T.B.L., Illustrations of Greek Drama, London, 1971, p. 127, pl. IV,9, no. 20.