Unknown Maker, Greek

Hellenistic party hosts in the 3rd century BCE occasionally employed dwarfs as entertainers, hiring them to dance and amuse the guests. This terracotta figurine of a dwarf dancing and shaking a rattle depicts the practice. Scholars cite the shape of the skull and facial characteristics as evidence of a particular type of dwarfism displayed in many other Greek artistic works. Figurines like this would have been mass-produced by pressing clay into a mold and then painting it after it hardened. The well-preserved state of this figurine indicates that it was probably created for a tomb, where it may have been placed to scare away evil spirits.