Greek Terracotta Statuette of a Standing Actor

Product Description

The statuette depicts a man standing on a small square base. He wears a mask, which characterizes him as an actor (here, the character of the old man), and is dressed in a large cloak (himation), which covers his entire body, except for his left hand; the tip of his feet, in their pointed shoes, are visible on the base. His short hair is held on the forehead by a large ivy wreath, adorned with leaves and flowers. As it is usually the case at that time for terracotta examples, our figurine was molded in two parts, the front and the back.

His mask shows exaggerated features, with deep wrinkles that furrow the forehead, the cheekbones and the cheeks; the open mouth, as if the man was singing or speaking, is framed by a thick mustache and a short, neat beard.

The technical and artistic qualities of this piece are a good example of similar terracotta pieces, which were generally sold as simple souvenirs, as ex-votos or as elements for funerary furniture.

During the late 5th and following century, different types of terracotta examples appeared in various regions of Greece, representing theatrical characters such as the seated or the standing slave, the old man or woman, the nurse with her baby, Heracles, the young veiled woman, etc. These characters were standardized and belonged to different comedies of the ancient repertoire: the large group of Attic statuettes, now housed in New York, that constitutes one of the most important and rare direct connections with the Middle Comedy, certainly belongs to this series.

The representation of this old man singing or performing is probably among the rarest figures in this series: it is currently difficult to identify the character that this actor played, but the presence of the ivy crown would indicate that he was a priest participating in a cult by reciting a ritual.

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