Terracotta vase in the form of a Black African youth's head
Attributed to the Negro Boy Group
The sensitively rendered statuette depicts a Black African youth wearing wrapped around his waist a tunic, the distinctive garment characteristic of artisans, especially those working in the heat of a foundry, forge, or brazier. The medium of the bronze, which once would have been tinted black, works in tandem with the youth’s tight curls and facial features to indicate the physical appearance of a Black African individual. In the Hellenistic period, a greater diversity of people lived and worked together in Greek cities, and depictions of Black African individuals as artists, scholars, athletes, servants, and enslaved people point to their range of stations and occupations within society.
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