Standing actor
2nd-3rd century CE
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.
Dimensions
15 × 5.5 × 3.9 cm (5 7/8 × 2 3/16 × 1 9/16 in.)
Provenance
Dr. Harris Kennedy, Milton, MA (by 1932), gift; to the William Hayes Fogg Art Museum, 1932.
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