Bronze figurine of a comic actor

Bronze, solid cast in one piece; missing the left hand and right leg
Made in Greece; first half of the 4th century BC
Height 8.1cm
Nicholson Museum 67.163

The figurine is solid, with fairly well-preserved surface and bright green patina. The left hand is missing; the upper surface of the right hand is smooth and is pierced by a hole for an attachment. The right leg is missing below the knee.

The figurine has a long dangling phallos, and padded belly and backside under a short tunic attached at one shoulder (exomis). The head is turned to the right and there are striations on the head to indicate straight hair. There is a small knob in the hair by the left temple, perhaps a trace of an attachment. The left foot points downward (without apparent trace of distortion) and the object could not have stood on its own.

The figurine is one of a series of some sixteen known examples with a wide range in date, from the early 4th century BC to one found in a shipwreck at Mahdia on the Tunisian coast which seems to have a context of the late 2nd century BC. The majority, like this, belong in the earlier part of the sequence as one can see by the mask and the costume with its padding and long dangling phallos. The reason for the long life of the type seems in part to have been functional.

The figurine represents a cook or kitchen slave. He held dishes in his hands: see the smooth surface and the small attachment knob on his preserved right hand. Some of the other examples preserve such dishes, and they have removeable lids. It is quite possible that they held spices. Our example seems to have traces of some kind of attachment on the top of the head and three of the others have a column there. They could therefore have been used at table, perhaps as part of a more elaborate object, and have owed something of their enduring popularity to such a purpose. At the same time, the figurines must soon have looked old-fashioned, or traditional.

Neither the findspot nor the place of manufacture is known, but it seems reasonable to suppose that the figurine either is or derives from an Athenian type. There are several grounds for such a suggestion. First, the figurine refers to Athenian Middle Comedy and there seems to be good evidence to suppose that when someone in another area of the Greek world thought of comedy in the 4th century, he thought first of Attic Comedy, and further, that when he thought of an art-object relating to the theatre, he thought first in terms of Athenian inspiration. Second, although only a small proportion of the figurines have a recorded findspot, the distribution of those known (Cyprus, Tripolis in the Peloponnese, “Greece”, the Mahdia shipwreck and two from Olynthos) makes a centre such as Athens quite likely. Third, it is readily demonstrable for terracotta figurines that Athens was the centre of distribution and inspiration, and they could be taken to provide a parallel case.