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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1920.44.131
Title
Dwarf or Pygmy
Other Titles
Alternate Title: Small Figure with Shield
Classification
Sculpture
Work Type
sculpture, statuette
Date
3rd century BCE-3rd century CE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World
Period
Roman period
Culture
Roman
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/303887

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Leaded bronze
Technique
Cast, lost-wax process
Dimensions
3.9 x 3 x 1.6 cm (1 9/16 x 1 3/16 x 5/8 in.)
Technical Details

Chemical Composition: ICP-MS/AAA data from sample, Leaded Bronze:
Cu, 83.38; Sn, 9.61; Pb, 6.83; Zn, 0.033; Fe, 0.01; Ni, 0.03; Ag, 0.05; Sb, 0.06; As, less than 0.10; Bi, less than 0.025; Co, less than 0.005; Au, less than 0.01; Cd, less than 0.001

J. Riederer

Technical Observations: The metal is moderately corroded and has a brown-colored patina with pits of green and red corrosion. The figure is a solid cast. The circular holes through the sculpture at the chest and between the legs appear to have been made in the wax model, as do the features of the face. No evidence of any cold working remains.


Nancy Lloyd (submitted 2001)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Miss Elizabeth Gaskell Norton, Boston, MA and Miss Margaret Norton, Cambridge, MA (by 1920), gift; to the Fogg Art Museum, 1920.

Note: The Misses Norton were daughters of Charles Elliot Norton (1827-1908).

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of the Misses Norton
Accession Year
1920
Object Number
1920.44.131
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
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Descriptions

Published Catalogue Text: Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes at the Harvard Art Museums
This ithyphallic figure stands on a rectangular base and has a 3-mm hole through his belly. His right arm is raised with fist clenched, as if to throw a spear or a stone. His left arm is bent and a round shield (1.1 cm in diameter) is attached by a strap on the upper arm. The thick, short legs are bent at the knees and stand on a plate (2.1 x 0.75 cm). His long penis is attached to the plate between his feet. The back is modeled with pronounced buttocks. His head is turned toward his left. His eyes and mouth are summarily indicated, and the nose is sharp. He is nude except for a circlet around the head with two sharp peaks over the brow.

Long torsos, large heads, stubby legs, and exaggerated genitals characterize grotesque figures that came into vogue in the Hellenistic period and remained popular with the Romans. The origin of the type is generally associated with Alexandria, and a connection has been made with the stubby figures of the Egyptian god Bes. There are examples of single bronze figures shown bearded and nude, representing soldiers or gladiators and caricatures of Herakles (1).

The function of this figure is difficult to determine. If the figure were cast with the hole through the belly, it would appear to have been intended as an amulet, but the plate—also original—suggests the figure was used as a decorative attachment. Similar figures decorated knife handles (2); possibly this figurine was one of a pair that held a vessel handle.

NOTES:

1. Compare Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae Pygmaioi no. 65-66b.

2. Compare M. Comstock and C. C. Vermeule, Greek, Etruscan and Roman Bronzes in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (Greenwich, CT, 1971) 129, no. 144, a dancing dwarf with a similar circlet on his head; see also ibid. 420, no. 624, a similar figurine with a shield on his left arm. For the same type of foliate handle, compare M. True and K. Hamma, A Passion for Antiquities: Ancient Art from the Collection of Barbara and Lawrence Fleischman, exh. cat., The J. Paul Getty Museum, The Cleveland Museum of Art (Malibu, CA, 1994) nos. 135-36, decorated with an actor and a seated baboon, respectively.

3. H. Chew, “Une statuette de Pygmée en bronze d’époque romaine à Davron (Yvelines)” Antiquités nationales 27 (1995): 133-44, collects a related group of figures believed to have decorated vessels, lamp stands, or furniture, with extensive literature. See also LIMC Pygmaioi nos. 34 and 64, with extensive references.


Jane Ayer Scott

Subjects and Contexts

  • Ancient Bronzes

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu