Currently not on view
Mosaic plaque: Mask of a brothel keeper,
1st century BCE–1st century CE
Hellenistic to Roman Imperial Period, ca. 30 BCE–476 CE
y1952-51
Information
Title
Mosaic plaque: Mask of a brothel keeper
Dates
1st century BCE–1st century CE
Medium
Opaque white, green, red, black/purple, beige glass, on translucent grayish blue background
Dimensions
3.2 x 1.3 cm (1 1/4 x 1/2)
Credit Line
Museum purchase
Object Number
y1952-51
Place Made
Italy ?
Description
Milky white half-mask of a comic brothel keeper set on grayish blue ground. On his bald head is a green ivy wreath with four tri-lobed leaves, two outlined in yellow with yellow stems and two outlined in darker green with dark green stems. Green and yellow ivy flower cluster on forehead. Striated black and white eyebrow; fine black line above the eyelid; big white eye with red in the corners outlined in black; black pupil with yellow iris outlined in black; red and gray rectangles at the middle of the nose, which is rendered with a fine black line; brown wrinkles on the cheek; striated gray and white sideburns and moustache. The long, half-round beard consists of multiple corkscrew tresses descending from the ear and covering the chin. The wide, open black mouth is outlined in red, while the oval ear is rendered with two fine black lines.
Materials
Subject
Purchased by the Museum in October 1951 from the Robert Garrett Collection, sold at Kende Galleries, lot no. 64
-
Egyptian, Greek & Roman antiquities: pottery, bronzes, sculputres, necklaces, iridescent glass, a gold victory wreath; Mexican & Central American pre-Columbian art; Japanese ivory carvings; Chinese jade; European ivories & objets d'art; bronze groups, (New York: Kende Galleries at Gimbel Brothers, 1951).
, cat. no. 64 -
The theater in ancient art: an exhibition, the Art Museum, Princeton University, December 10, 1951-January 6, 1952 (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1951).
, no. 48 (illus.) - Otto Zwierlein, Zur Kritik und Exegese des Plautus, (Stuttgart: Steiner Verlag, 1990-1992)., Vol. 4: p. 52, fig. 3
- Anastassios Antonaras, Fire and Sand: Ancient Glass in the Princeton University Art Museum (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Art Museum, 2012), cat. no. 504 (illus.)
