CIRCA 510-470 B.C.

These genre subjects were realistically made and depict men and women at their daily tasks. Cf. C. E. Vafopoulou-Richardson, Ancient Greek Terracottas, Oxford, 1991, no. 29 and R. A. Higgins, Greek Terracottas, London, 1967, p. 77 and pl. 32, "Popular motives are a carpenter, a butcher, a scribe, a barber, a musician. But by far the commonest are scenes from the kitchen, in which men, women and occasionally girls participate...the following specific activites are represented: grinding, kneading, baking and grilling". Higgins suggests that these pieces, many of which were found in tombs, have a similar purpose to Egyptian shabtis - to serve as workers of the dead in the afterlife.