A GREEK TERRACOTTA SEATED ACTOR

ATTIC, CIRCA FIRST HALF OF THE 4TH CENTURY B.C

Details

A GREEK TERRACOTTA SEATED ACTOR
ATTIC, CIRCA FIRST HALF OF THE 4TH CENTURY B.C
Depicting a slave from Middle Comedy, seated on a draped altar, wearing an exaggerated mask with satyr-like ears, a receding hairline with a pronounced widow's peak, undulating brows, a snub nose and a megaphone-like mouth, the tongue lolling, his right elbow resting on his right knee, supporting his chin with his hand, the fingers curled under, his left arm resting on his left knee, his hand on his padded paunchy stomach, clad in a short stippled chiton, perhaps representing fur, exposing his elongated phallus, traces of pigment preserved
3 7/16 in. (8.7 cm.) high

Provenance

Private Collection, London, formed in 1950s-1960s.
Private Collector; Christie's, London, 25 April 2001, lot 230.

Literature

T.B.L. Webster and J.R. Green, Monuments Illustrating Old and Middle Comedy, London, 1978, p. 59, AT22f.

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Lot Essay

For an almost-identical example in the Metropolitan Museum of Art see no. 198, p. 47 in Bieber, The History of Greek and Roman Theater, which is part of a group of seven actors from Middle Comedy. According to Bieber, (pp. 47-48, op. cit.), this figure is the "forerunner of the leading slave in New Comedy" which still has "the costume of Old Comedy, but already the individual characterization of New Comedy has begun."

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