Getty Museum

Comic Mask

Date

300–200 B.C.

Medium

Terracotta with white slip and polychromy (brownish red, pink)

Culture

Greek (South Italian, Tarantine)

Department

Sculpture

Institution

Getty Museum

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).

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