Seated Man Playing the Harp
30 BCE - 300 CE
Description
Incomplete figurine; missing part of phallus. Front is not as crisp as back, which is the side pictured here. Heavy surface accretions. Very small figure, male, nude, seated and resting a harp on his enormous phallus. Either bald or with very short cropped hair. Symmetrical arrangement of arms and legs, though the proper left shoulder is higher than the right, possibly to accommodate the head, which faces proper right. Shapely body with small waist and wide hips, almost feminine. What remains of the harp resembles a right triangle with the strings placed parallel to its hypotenuse. The figure’s arms go around both sides of the harp, with hands placed on the strings. Legs bent up at the knee. Figure rests on a narrow plain base. Would have been painted originally, now only faint traces of white ground extant. Solid. Mold-made in a single bivalve mold split down the figure’s sagittal plane; likely plaster. Deep mauve clay, smooth, well-levigated.
Dimensions
4.9 × 2.3 × 4.4 cm (1 15/16 × 7/8 × 1 3/4 in.)
Related Artworks
View MoreFaience
7th-6th century BCEEgyptianFaience
11th-10th century BCEEgyptianClay with paint
11th-10th century BCEEgyptianClay with paint
11th-10th century BCEEgyptianClay with paint
11th-10th century BCEEgyptianFaience
11th-10th century BCEEgyptianFaience
11th-10th century BCEEgyptianTerracotta
EgyptianFaience
11th-10th century BCEEgyptianClay with paint
11th-10th century BCEEgyptianFaience
4th century BCEEgyptianClay with paint
11th-10th century BCEEgyptian