Detail View: The AMICA Library: Statuette of a veiled and masked dancer

AMICA ID: 
MMA_.1972.118.95
AMICA Library Year: 
2000
Object Type: 
Sculpture
Creator Nationality: 
European; Southern European; Greek
Creator Name-CRT: 
Greek
Title: 
Statuette of a veiled and masked dancer
Title Type: 
Object name
View: 
Rear View
Creation Date: 
3rd-2nd century B.C.
Creation Start Date: 
-299
Creation End Date: 
-100
Materials and Techniques: 
Bronze
Classification Term: 
Bronzes
Dimensions: 
H. 8 1/16 in. (20.5 cm)
AMICA Contributor: 
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Owner Location: 
New York, New York, USA
ID Number: 
1972.118.95
Credit Line: 
Bequest of Walter C. Baker, 1971
Rights: 
Context: 

The complex motion of this dancer is conveyed exclusively through the interaction of the body with several layers of dress. Over an undergarment that falls in deep folds and trails heavily, the figure wears a lightweight mantle, drawn taut over her head and body by the pressure applied to it by her right arm, left hand, and right leg. Its substance is conveyed by the alternation of sharp pleats and flat surfaces as well as by their contrast to both the tubular folds pushing through from below and the freely curling softness of the fringe. The woman's face is covered by the sheerest of veils, discernible at its edge below her hairline and at the cutouts for the eyes. Her extended right foot shows a laced slipper. This dancer has been convincingly identified as one of the professional entertainers, a combination of mime and dancer, for which the cosmopolitan city of Alexandria was famous in antiquity.

Related Image Identifier Link: 
MMA_.gr1972.118.95.AV2.tif