Lot Essay
PUBLISHED:
T. B. L. Webster, Monuments Illustrating Old and Middle Comedy, 3rd ed. rev. by J. R. Green, London, 1978, p. 59, AT22f.
Ink inscribed label "27.1.27, ESS".
Cf. M. Bieber, Greek and Roman Theater, Princeton, 1971, p. 47, fig. 198 for the type, one of a rare group of Middle Comedy figures found together in a grave in Athens. At the time of publishing other examples were known of all figures in the group (see Lot 231) with the exception of this seated 'slave'. Seated in this pensive position wearing the coarse jerkin of a slave, and with a characterised role within the group, Bieber suggests that he can be seen as a forerunner of the leading slave in New Comedy.
The thrust-out tongue can be found in Romano-Egyptian terracottas cf. P. Perdrizet, Les Terres Cuites Grecques d'Égypte de la Collection Fouquet, Nancy-Paris-Strasbourg, 1921, p. 165, pl. CX.
T. B. L. Webster, Monuments Illustrating Old and Middle Comedy, 3rd ed. rev. by J. R. Green, London, 1978, p. 59, AT22f.
Ink inscribed label "27.1.27, ESS".
Cf. M. Bieber, Greek and Roman Theater, Princeton, 1971, p. 47, fig. 198 for the type, one of a rare group of Middle Comedy figures found together in a grave in Athens. At the time of publishing other examples were known of all figures in the group (see Lot 231) with the exception of this seated 'slave'. Seated in this pensive position wearing the coarse jerkin of a slave, and with a characterised role within the group, Bieber suggests that he can be seen as a forerunner of the leading slave in New Comedy.
The thrust-out tongue can be found in Romano-Egyptian terracottas cf. P. Perdrizet, Les Terres Cuites Grecques d'Égypte de la Collection Fouquet, Nancy-Paris-Strasbourg, 1921, p. 165, pl. CX.