Expressive Roman Terracotta Actor's Mask (Female) w/ TL

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Ancient / Ethnographic Around The World

By Artemis Gallery

Mar 12, 2020

Set Reminder 2020-03-12 10:00:00 2020-03-12 10:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : Ancient / Ethnographic Around The World https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/artemis-gallery/ancient-ethnographic-around-the-world-4957
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• Lot Description
  Roman, Imperial Period, ca. 1st to 2nd century CE. A stunning actor's mask, skillfully mold-made, depicting a beautiful female visage with openwork eyes, an elegantly arched browline delineated above, a relatively naturalistic nose, a petite open mouth suggesting that the figure is perhaps speaking, chanting, or singing, and finely rendered facial contours with a cleft chin. Theatre masks worn by actors were made of fabric and painted, so that they were light and easy to remove, while terracotta masks like this one were more likely created to be hung on walls, as souvenirs of performances, or as votive dedicatory offerings to Bacchus (Greek Dionysus). Size: 6.125" W x 7.5" H (15.6 cm x 19 cm); 9.75" H (24.8 cm) on included custom stand.
  
  According to scholar Colette Hemingway, "Our interest in the theater connects us intimately with the ancient Greeks and Romans. Nearly every Greek and Roman city of note had an open-air theater, the seats arranged in tiers with a lovely view of the surrounding landscape. Here the Greeks sat and watched the plays first of Aeschylus, Sophokles, Euripides, and Aristophanes, and of Menander and the later playwrights." ("Theater in Ancient Greece" The Met Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, Metropolitan Museum of Art, October 2004)
  
  This type of terracotta mask was associated with the choruses of Greek drama and was often used as a votive offering dedicated by to shrines and/or graves by individuals who were linked to the theater - either as a known patron, participant, admirer of the arts, or reveler during Dionysiac festivals.
  
  This piece has been tested using thermoluminescence (TL) analysis and has been found to be ancient and of the period stated. A full report will accompany purchase.
  
  Provenance: private East Coast, USA collection; ex-private Malibu, California, USA collection, 1990's
  
  All items legal to buy/sell under U.S. Statute covering cultural patrimony Code 2600, CHAPTER 14, and are guaranteed to be as described or your money back.
  
  A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids.
  
  We ship worldwide and handle all shipping in-house for your convenience.
  
  #149773

  Condition

  Repaired from about 5 large pieces with restoration over the break lines. Perforations at top and sides for suspension. Normal surface wear with chips, scuffs, and abrasions commensurate with age. Surface is covered with mineral deposits.
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