400-375 B.C.

Details

A GREEK BRONZE FIGURE OF A COMIC ACTOR IN THE ROLE OF A KITCHEN SLAVE
400-375 B.C.
The grotesque mask with exaggerated lips, eyes and arching brows, standing on right foot and toes of left foot with legs apart, both arms stretched out sideways, palms upwards with remains of rivet, each would have held attached vessel (now missing), he wears a short chiton over an undergarment with long sleeves and trousers, genitalia showing below the padded stomach, mounted
3 1/8 in. (7.9 cm.) high

Exhibited

Master Bronzes from the Classical World, The Fogg Art Museum, City Art Museum of Saint Louis and The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1967-1968, no. 119B.

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

PUBLISHED:
D. G. Mitten and S. F. Doeringer, Master Bronzes from the Classical World, The Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, Mass., 1967, pp. 120-121, no. 119 B.; and T. B. L. Webster, Monuments illustrating Old and Middle Comedy, 3rd ed. rev. by J. R. Green, London, 1978, p. 40, AB1a.

The type originated in Athens, and the character of kitchen slaves persisted through Aristophanes' Middle Comedy, ending circa 330 B.C. Also see M. Bieber, The History of the Greek and Roman Theater, Princeton, 1971, p. 41, fig. 159 about the importance of the role of the popular conceited cook in comedy. The kitchen slaves were seen to "rejoice in copying the pompous bearing of their masters".

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