Art/ Collection/ Art Object
Search
{{img.publicCaption}}

Terracotta statuette of an actor

Period:
Late Classical
Date:
late 5th–early 4th century B.C.
Culture:
Greek, Attic
Medium:
Terracotta
Dimensions:
H. 3 1/2 in. (8.9 cm)
Classification:
Terracottas
Credit Line:
Rogers Fund, 1913
Accession Number:
13.225.19
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 161
Fourteen of these figures are said to have been found together in a burial in Attica. They are among the earliest known statuettes of actors and are superbly executed and preserved. Originally they were brightly painted. They document the beginning of standardized characters and masks, indicating the popularity not of a specific figure but of types—the old man, the slave, the courtesan, etc.—that appeared repeatedly in different plays. By the mid-fourth century B.C., Attic examples or local copies were known throughout the Greek world, from Southern Russia to Spain.
Bieber, Margarete. 1939. The History of the Greek and Roman Theater. pp. 85, 91, 93, fig. 135, Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Richter, Gisela M. A. 1953. Handbook of the Greek Collection. pp. 112, 253, pl. 93d, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.

Pinney, Gloria Ferrari and Brunilde Sismondo Ridgway. 1979. Aspects of Ancient Greece p. 251, Allentown, Penn.: Allentown Art Museum.

Levi, Peter. 1980. Atlas of the Greek World. p. 147, Oxford: Phaidon Press.

Csapo, Eric and William J. Slater. 1994. The Context of Ancient Drama. pp. 70-1, pl. 9, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.

Picón, Carlos A. 2007. Art of the Classical World in the Metropolitan Museum of Art: Greece, Cyprus, Etruria, Rome. no. 181, pp. 160, 438, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Shapiro, H. Alan. 2010. "Middle Comedy Figurines of Actors." The Art of Ancient Greek Theater, Dr. Mary Louise Hart, ed. p. 124, pl. 61, Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum.

Karoglou, Kyriaki. 2016. "The Collection of Greek Terracotta Figurines at The Metropolitan Museum of Art." Les Carnets de l’ACoSt, 14: pp. 3–4, n. 21 [p.8], fig. 7a.

Timelines
Ancient Greece, 1000 B.C.-1 A.D.

Related Objects

Terracotta statuette of an actor

Artist: Date: late 5th–early 4th century B.C.
Accession Number: 13.225.13 Date: late 5th–early 4th century B.C. Medium: Terracotta Accession: 13.225.13 On view in:Gallery 161

Terracotta statuette of a woman

Artist: Date: 2nd century B.C.
Accession Number: 30.117 Date: 2nd century B.C. Medium: Terracotta Accession: 30.117 On view in:Gallery 171

Terracotta statuette of a woman looking into a box mirror

Artist: Date: 3rd–2nd century B.C.
Accession Number: 12.229.19 Date: 3rd–2nd century B.C. Medium: Terracotta Accession: 12.229.19 On view in:Gallery 158

Bronze youth

Artist: Date: late 5th century B.C.
Accession Number: 74.51.5679 Date: late 5th century B.C. Medium: Bronze Accession: 74.51.5679 On view in:Gallery 175

Bronze diskos thrower

Artist: Date: ca. 480–460 B.C.
Accession Number: 07.286.87 Date: ca. 480–460 B.C. Medium: Bronze Accession: 07.286.87 On view in:Gallery 153
A curatorial staff member looks at an ink drawing using a magnifying lens

Who Cares for the Collection?

Learn more about the curatorial staff and the scientists and conservators who collaborate to study, exhibit, and care for the objects in The Met collection.

A conservator analyzes a painting up close

Collection Insights

Voices from across the Museum offer new perspectives on works in The Met collection representing more than 5,000 years of human creativity.

A collage of various public-domain works of art in The Met collection

Open Access at The Met

Stay up-to-date on the Museum's Open Access initiative, which makes more than 375,000 images of public-domain artworks from The Met collection available for free and unrestricted use.

Book cover and selected pages from "The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Masterpiece Paintings"

The Met Store

Explore publications and products inspired by The Met collection, which spans 5,000 years of culture from around the world.