Theatre mask of a slave
€5,300
available
Object number
AR3206
| Object: |
Theatre mask of a slave
|
| Material: |
Orange fired clay with remains of red slip.
|
| Period: |
Hellenistic. Late 4th cent. BC to 2nd cent. BC. |
| Description: |
Expressive life-size clay mask from Hellenistic Greece. Typical wide open mouth with framing beard, circular holes for the eyes, prominent bulge above the eyes, flat nose. The hair is styled back and to both sides in thick strands. It is a face mask in the manner of an ancient theatre mask. The character of the slave from the New Comedy is shown, i.e. from a theatre style that developed with the Hellenistic period. |
| Background: |
The theatre of classical Greece has its roots in the cult of Dionysus, which involved masking, costumes, as well as drinking and dancing in ecstasy. Already in the 6th century BC the administration of Athens had dramas performed as part of Dionysian festivals. By the end of the 6th century, tragedies had expanded the repertoire of plays, at the beginning of the 5th century comedies were added. Costumes and masks, as well as the musical and dance elements in the theater, have been preserved from the original cult. The masks were central because they allowed the same actor to quickly switch between different roles. The missing dynamic in the facial expressions were compensated by expressive texts and additional gestures. In the 3rd century BC theatre had attained an importance that made it possible to move from amateur actors to full-time actors. They were even exempt from military service and taxes. Unfortunately, no original theatre masks have survived. But written accounts and material remains give us a deep insight. Statues of actors, scenes on vases, frescoes and mosaics, as well as clay masks and architectural decorations have sometimes survived to this day. Of course, the Romans took up the theatre from the Greeks and continued to use its props in art. The depiction of a slave presented here is typical of the New Comedy, i.e. the style from the late 4th century BC. It is marked by exaggerations taken back a little that used to be popular in the depiction ealier. And also by a change in the narrative material. |
| Dimensions: |
21.8cm height. 17.1cm width. 8.2cm depth.
|
| Condition: |
Great overall impression. Professionally restored. The red slip is still clearly visible in large parts.
|
| Provenance: |
Acquired by us in 2021 from the German private collection Dr. Dietrich. Acquired by him in 1964 from the „Antique Shop Evangelos Kapsoulakis und Dimitrios Polydorou“, an antiquities dealer based in Athens, and taken to Germany.
|
| References: |
Cf. British Museum, inv. no. 1814,0704.836. Cf. Israel Museum, Jerusalem, inv. no. 2001.41.77. Similar Metropolitan Museum of Art, inv. no. 1999.316a, b. For a very similar piece on the art market cf. Cahn’s Quarterly 4/2016, p. 9, offered for a price of 14.000 CHF (approx. 15,000 EUR at that time). |
| Literature: |
Cahn’s Quarterly 3/2019, p. 2f. T. Vovolis, Mask, Actor, Theatron and Landscape in Classical Greek Theatre. The Acoustics of Ancient Theaters Conference (Patras, 2011. E. Simon, Stumme Masken und sprechende Gesichter, in: T. Schabert, Die Sprache der Masken (Wuerzburg, 2002). |
| Authenticity: |
We unconditionally guarantee the authenticity of every artefact, all items are subject to our lifetime return policy on authenticity.
|