Unknown, Comic Mask
Gift of Barbara and Lawrence Fleischman · Digital image courtesy of Getty's Open Content ProgramView original →
Unknown

Comic Mask

300–200 B.C.

Current Collection

J. Paul Getty Museum

Los Angeles, United States

Medium
Terracotta with white slip and polychromy (brownish red, pink)
Dimensions
9 × 8.4 cm
Status
In Museum Collection
Collect24 Art ID
C24-231146

The mask features a rounded skullcap with two holes for hanging in the upper section of the head. The oval face presents a convex forehead with a cleft at center, high arched eyebrows above half-closed eyes, a long thin nose, puffy cheeks, and a broad mouth with an ambiguous smile. Fleshy lips frame the wide-open mouth; the jaw is prominent and features a full, dimpled chin. The hair is painted red and forms a crown of radial striations around the forehead. These characteristics associate the mask with the New Comedy character Colax, an adulator (or vain flatterer).

Provenance

Gift of Barbara and Lawrence Fleischman

Registry history

  • 300–200 B.C. — Recorded in the collection of J. Paul Getty Museum — sculpture

Registered on Collect24

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Auction history

Public sale records matched to this work. Ownership is never disclosed.

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