The ancient Greek vase, with decorative painting and the mask of comedy, is of a type made between the third and first centuries in workshops in the south of Italy, Egypt and Asia Minor. The vase in the Museum of Fine Arts? collection came from Gnathia, today called Egnazia, in the south of Italy.
The Greek red-figure technique involved painting the background of a scene black, then painting only the details of the figures in the foreground, allowing the unpainted parts to take on the reddish colour of the clay after it was fired in a kiln.
Around the vase, the museum has on display a series of terracotta masks for New Comedy based on a description by Pollux. Such terracotta was found around the Mediterranean between the fourth century BC until the time of the Roman empire.
Since it reopened its Ancient Art collection in 2003, the Museum of Fine Arts has chosen a newly acquired or a newly restored object from the collection to highlight each season. Earlier pieces which enjoyed special attention include a terracotta figure of a youth, the mask of a mummy and a wizard?s staff.
Source: Múlt-kor / Hungarian News Agency (MTI)
