Lot 16
Greek Egypt, Hellenistic / Ptolemaic Period, ca. 2nd to 1st century BCE. A fascinating bronze figure of a dancing dwarf posed dynamically with legs crossed and arms flung about. The figure hods castanets in each hand, suggesting he is a castanet-playing dancer hired for religious or private occasions who are noted in some Ptolemaic papyri. Though in Greece these dancers were associated with ecstatic orgiastic cults like those of Dionysus or Cybele, the employment of these individuals was also adopted for private occasions and banquets indicating this figure may have recalled a particular celebration or been a more general elicitation of merriment. Dwarves were integrated into Egyptian society and held positive associations, which is reflected in the lack of parody in this figure's representation. Conversely, his nudeness and musculature are characteristic of Greek Hellenistic tradition. Size: 1.6" W x 2.6" H (4.1 cm x 6.6 cm)
This piece's iconography and stylistic interpretation is characteristic of Hellenistic bronze dwarf figures. In her article about a bronze statuette of a dwarf in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, Lillian Bartlett Stoner of the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University writes, "Small-scale bronze statuettes of dwarfs, of which one in The Metropolitan Museum of Art is an important example were frequently displayed in Roman domestic settings and seem to have been particularly popular during the Late Republican and Early Imperial periods (ca. 100 B.C. - A.D. 100). In this context, images of dwarfs were emblematic of the mania for all things 'Egyptian' that reached a fever pitch in the decades leading up to and following the Battle of Actium in 31 B.C." (Lillian Bartlett Stoner, "A Bronze Hellenistic Dwarf in the Metropolitan Museum" Metropolitan Museum Journal 2015 50, 92-101.)
Provenance: private New York Collection, USA, acquired before 1974
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#176091
- Condition: Surface wear as shown with age-expected nicks and abrasions. Ancient perforations to body for attachment. Otherwise, nice preservation of form and liberal remaining detail. Rich encrustations and patina throughout.
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