Statuette of an African

DateHellenistic Greek, possibly Ptolemaic, about 150-50 BCE

Dimensions10 1/8 × 1 1/2 × 1 3/4 in. (25.7 × 3.8 × 4.4 cm)

MediumBronze

ClassificationSculpture

Credit LinePurchased with funds given by Nancy and Gene Phlegar, Barbara J. Baker, and The Popplestone Family and with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

2010.5

On View

Toledo Museum of Art (2445 Monroe Street), Gallery, 02, Classic

DescriptionA youthful nude man stands with his weight supported on his left leg and his right leg bent at the knee and slightly turned outward, the right foot pulled back to rest on the ball of the foot with the heel raised. His right arm is raised, with the elbow bent, the palm open above his head. The left arm is lowered and held slightly behind his back. The long torso and legs are muscular but lean. The head is small but exquisitely modeled.

Label TextAfricans appear frequently in the arts of ancient Greece. However, many of these images of Egyptians, Nubians, Ethiopians, Libyans, Imazighen, and other ethnic groups represent them as conquered enemies or as slaves or entertainers. This dignified image must represent a famous man: perhaps a ruler, a general, or a victorious athlete.Published Referencescf. Frank M. Snowden, Jr., Blacks in Antiquity: Ethiopians in the Greco-Roman Experience (Cambridge, Mass.: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1970). cf. Ladislas Bugner, ed., The Image of the Black in Western Art, vol. 1: From the Pharaohs to the Fall of the Roman Empire (Menil Foundation; Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press, 1976), including Frank M. Snowden, Jr., "Iconographical Evidence on the Black Populations in Greco-Roman Antiquity, " pp. 133-245, and Jehan Desanges, "The Iconography of the Black in Ancient North Africa," pp. 246-268. cf. Arielle P. Kozloff and David G. Mitten, eds., The Gods Delight, The Human Figure in Classical Bronze, exhibition catalogue (The Cleveland Museum of Art, in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1988). Antiquities, sale no. 1531, Christie's, New York, 8 June 2005, pp. 98-99, lot 118. Antiquities, sale no. 2232, Christie's, New York, 11 December 2009, pp. 86-87, lot 124. Peck, William H., Sandra E. Knudsen and Paula Reich, Egypt in Toledo: The Ancient Egyptian Collection at the Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, Toledo Museum of Art, 2011, p. 92-93, repr. (col.) p. 93.