1932.56.56: Standing actor
Sculpture
This object does not yet have a description.
Identification and Creation
- Object Number
- 1932.56.56
- Title
- Standing actor
- Classification
- Sculpture
- Work Type
- sculpture, statuette
- Date
- 2nd-3rd century CE
- Period
- Roman Imperial period
- Culture
- Roman
- Persistent Link
- https://hvrd.art/o/291853
Physical Descriptions
- Medium
- Terracotta
- Technique
- Mold-made
- Dimensions
- 15 × 5.5 × 3.9 cm (5 7/8 × 2 3/16 × 1 9/16 in.)
Provenance
- Recorded Ownership History
- Dr. Harris Kennedy, Milton, MA (by 1932), gift; to the William Hayes Fogg Art Museum, 1932.
Acquisition and Rights
- Credit Line
- Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Dr. Harris Kennedy, Class of 1894
- Accession Year
- 1932
- Object Number
- 1932.56.56
- Division
- Asian and Mediterranean Art
- Contact
- am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
- Permissions
-
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Descriptions
- Description
-
Almost complete figurine with some repairs. Signs of burning at bottom.
A standing actor, fully dressed. He wears a mask with a wreath, short, curly hair, and fully open mouth. Dionysiac? A long, straight tunic obscures the body, while a heavy mantle draped around the shoulders and back provides a dramatic frame. The right arm is bent at the elbow and brought up to the mouth; left arm, now missing, likely projected forward. He stands on a hight plinth or platform. Modeling is stiff, yet pose, as if speaking, is dynamic nonetheless.
Would have been painted originally. Significant traces of white ground extant.
Hollow with open bottom; heavy. Mold-made in a bivalve mold, likely plaster. Arms cast separately and later attached. Linear treatment of features, incised detailing, and general frontality, suggest a later Imperial date.
Light red-orange clay, micaceous; perhaps western Anatolian. - Commentary
- The actors of Roman antiquity were both vilified and idolized: on the one hand, they were legally disenfranchised; on the other, they won the love of their public with their expressive performances. This terracotta figurine, and others like it, would have reminded its owner of the visual splendor of the theater, its originally painted surface brightly complementing the subject. Its small size and warm material would have further inspired handling. What sort of effects could have holding the miniature version of these ambivalent characters had on past theater afficionados?
Related Objects
Verification Level
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