Group of Actors
1st to 3rd century CE
Description
In the Roman period, itinerant troupes of actors performed around Italy and the Roman World. This terracotta model of seven masked actors standing on the upper step of a plinth captures the sense of camraderie in the acting profession. They are bunched together like a modern chorus posing for a photograph, the outer members of the back row grasping the shoulders of their comrades in front of them. Their long-sleeved knee-length tunics and loose trousers may suggest that they are acting the role of a chorus of foreigners. Label text from Roman Gallery Installation, September 16, 1999 through 2008. Hard, bright orange-red clay with particles of mica (?). Remnants of white slip. Back sparsely modeled. No venthole. Bottom open. Group of seven figures standing on a high two-stepped plinth. Two lower central figures seen in entirety wearing loose trousers, knee-length, long-sleeved tunics, and masks. Two flanking outer figures half visible. Masks of three figures in back row visible over heads of front figures. Hand of end figures in back row visible on shoulder of half-visible end figures. Compact group. Back of figures barely distinguishable. NBR, Master's thesis
Dimensions
13.2 × 6.5 × 3.2 cm (5 3/16 × 2 9/16 × 1 1/4 in.)
Provenance
Dr. Harris Kennedy, Milton, MA (by 1932), gift; to the William Hayes Fogg Art Museum, 1932.
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