8¹⁄₄ in. (21 cm.) high

Jean-Alain Mariaud de Serres (1920-1999), France.
Archéologie, Collection Jean-Alain Mariaud de Serres et à divers amateurs; Francois de Ricqles, Drouot-Montaigne, Paris, 1-2 October 2000, lot 228.
Antiquities, Christie's, New York, 6 December 2007, lot 154.
Acquired by the present owner from the above.

M. Eiland, "Materials and Manufacture" in M. Merrony (ed.), Mougins Museum of Classical Art, France, 2011, p. 164, fig. 4.

Musée d'Art Classique de Mougins, 2011-2023 (Inv. no. MMoCA147).

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Lot Essay

The musician is depicted wearing typically Parthian clothing, consisting of a tightly pleated tunic with wide neck and trousers and holding a drum on his right hip. The moveable legs are made separately and held with a pin through the edge of the tunic. His curly hair is indicated with punched holes. There are remains of a suspension loop at the back of the head and the back of the figure is unworked, which would suggest that this figure would have been hung on a wall with the back not visible. For a similarly dressed musician playing a tanbur, see inv. no: B 1952/2.1, in the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, Lieden.