CIRCA LATE 1ST CENTURY B.C.- EARLY 1ST CENTURY A.D.

Details

A ROMAN TERRACOTTA WATERSPOUT
CIRCA LATE 1ST CENTURY B.C.- EARLY 1ST CENTURY A.D.
In the form of a theater mask, depicting the Lykomedian, his animated wizened face with large bulging eyes, the pupils perforated, the eyebrows skewed and the forehead deeply furrowed with three U-shaped creases, his hooked nose downturned, hanging over his oversized megaphone-shaped mouth, open through to the interior, serving as the spout, with a projecting radiating curly beard, his receding corkscrew curls forming a peak above his forehead, the locks falling along the sides of his face
5½ in. (14 cm.) diameter

Provenance

Acquired by the current owner's husband in Italy during WWII and brought to the U.S. circa 1945.

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Lot Essay

This waterspout was originally attached to the edge of a tiled roof. For a similar mask with the same function, now in the Thorvaldsen Museum, Copenhagen, see no. 4NT 8a (pp. 44, vol. 1 and 305, vol. 2), in Webster, Green and Seeberg, Monuments Illustrating New Comedy.

The Lykomedian of New Comedy, the "meddlesome" character, is not one of the most common subjects, but it played a vital role, carrying over from Middle Comedy. Its wiley personality is conveyed through its arched brows and prominent eyes. For the Lykomedian type see Mask 7, pp. 13-14 in Webster, Green and Seeberg, op. cit.

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