Roman White Chalcedony Cameo of a Theatrical Mask

1ST CENTURY A.D.

1/2 in. (1.07 grams, 13 mm).

Showing a New Comedy, 'Cook' type theatre mask with an open mouth; supplied with a museum-quality impression.

Provenance

Private English collection, formed between the late 1970s and early 1990s.
Private collection, London, UK.

Literature

Cf. Spier, J., Ancient Gems and finger Rings, catalogue of the collections, the J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, 1992, no.292, for a gemstone with a similar bearded comic mask in three-quarter profile.

Footnotes

Miniature models of theatrical masks were mass-produced in the ancient world, and can be linked with the Dionysiac mysteries, in association with funeral rites, illustrating the Dionysiac thiasos, the orgiastic world of satyrs and maenads. However, they can also be miniature models of masks linked with highbrow Sophoclean and Euripidean tragedy, or with so-called Middle Comedy, which now only survives in fragments.

CONDITION

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LOT 0088