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Expert’s note
Dwarf comic actors or comedians belonged to the broad and colorful world of popular entertainment that flourished throughout the Hellenistic world. Alongside the formal performances of Greek comedy existed a much less regulated theatrical culture of mimes, dancers, musicians, buffoons, and itinerant performers, presenting short farces, comic sketches, parody, physical humor, and sometimes deliberately risqué entertainment. In modern terms, this world perhaps came closer to vaudeville or burlesque than to the formal theatre.
Dwarfs are recorded among entertainers at both private and public spectacles, and famously appeared as dancers in the great Dionysiac procession of Ptolemy IV at Alexandria. Terracotta figures of comic actors preserve this vivid theatrical culture particularly well, capturing the exaggerated gestures, costumes, masks, and physical characterization through which performers entertained audiences across the Hellenistic world.
Boldly modeled, standing on an oval pedestal, depicted nude but for a mantle draped over the shoulders and across the rounded belly, which he lifts with both hands to expose the genitalia and buttocks. The disproportionately large balding head with a deeply wrinkled face, marked by small eyes, a snub nose, and full lips, framed below by a thick, curling beard.
Provenance: Collection of George Embiricos, London, acquired between the late 1950s and the 1960s. Christie’s London, 25 April 2001, lot 241 (sold for GBP 2,115 or approx. EUR 4,700 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing). Art Market, Canada, acquired from the above. Bonhams London, 3 July 2019, lot 115 (sold for GBP 4,062 or approx. EUR 6,300 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing). A private collection in the United Kingdom, acquired from the above. With a fragmentary old collector’s label affixed to the base. George A. Embiricos (1920-2011) was a prominent Greek shipping magnate and distinguished art collector, born into the celebrated Embiricos shipping family. He studied law in Athens and Cambridge before joining the family shipping business in London. Following the Second World War, he moved to New York, where he began to assemble what would become an important and wide-ranging collection. Embiricos subsequently withdrew from business at a relatively early age, devoting much of his life to art, scholarship and collecting. His collection was particularly distinguished in the fields of modern European art and Old Masters, and included works by Cézanne, Picasso, Van Gogh, Francis Bacon, El Greco, Goya and Kandinsky, alongside drawings, prints and sculpture. His interests also extended to Classical antiquities, encompassing documented examples of ancient Greek and Roman art. A notable group of Greek vases from the collection was offered at Christie's on 28 April 1993, while several antiquities formerly in the Embiricos collection were acquired by the British Museum in 2002.
Condition: The legs visibly restored. Otherwise, good condition, with expected wear, firing irregularities, traces of erosion, signs of prolonged burial, encrustations, and remnants of old pigments.
Weight: 29.2 g (excl. stand), 158.3 g (incl. stand)
Dimensions: Height 8.2 cm (excl. stand), 10.1 cm (incl. stand)
With an associated metal stand. (2)
Terracotta figures such as the present lot also document the emergence and popularity of standardized theatrical characters and masks within the Hellenistic tradition, representing not specific individuals but recognizable types—the old man, the dwarf, the slave, the courtesan, and others—that recurred across different plays. Statuettes of this type are known from burials in Attica as early as the late fifth century BC, and by the mid-fourth century BC, Attic examples and locally produced variants had spread throughout the Greek world, from southern Russia to the Iberian Peninsula.
Literature comparison:
Compare two closely related Attic terracotta figures of comic actors, dated circa 350 BC, 9 cm and 7.5 cm high, in the British Museum, registration numbers 1880,1113.2 and 1865,0720.37. A related Greek terracotta figure of an actor, also from the Embiricos Collection and with a label on the back similar to the fragment found on the base of the present lot, is currently in the British Museum, registration number 2002,0731.1.
Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Christie’s London, 13 May 2003, lot 225
Price: GBP 2,585 or approx. EUR 5,600 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: An Attic terracotta old comedy actor in role of Herakles, early 4th century BC
Expert remark: Compare the closely related subject, modeling, and size (8 cm).
Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Bonhams London, 6 July 2023, lot 39
Price: GBP 5,376 or approx. EUR 7,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A Greek terracotta figure of an actor, c. 4th-3rd century BC
Expert remark: Compare the closely related subject and modeling. Note the larger size (15 cm).
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