The Hellenistic Period heralded a new direction in artistic expression. It was the first time that realism was truly explored, with artists aiming to communicate the subject’s character and emotion, in abandonment of the idealism of the classical age. This movement manifested itself in naturalistic portraiture and expressive sculptures exploring anguish, old age, and dramatic episodes.

The city of Alexandria, built on the instruction of Alexander the Great in 331 BC, became an epicentre of Hellenistic artistic life, with esteemed poets, scholars, and sculptors from all parts of the Greek world congregating there. The arts flourished, and a distinctly Alexandrian style emerged. One of the distinguishing features of Alexandrian art was its so called ‘genre’ sculpture, a type no doubt largely borne out of the city’s cosmopolitan character; keen observation of subjects from daily life on the streets of the city gave rise to this particular class of small-scale sculpture, which favoured depictions of old women, fishermen, Nubians, Gauls, hunchbacks, dwarves, and comic characters from the theatre. The tendency for artists to depict often deformed subjects engaging in humorous activities has led to them being described in modern scholarship as ‘grotesques’, or ‘caricatures’.

The present figurine belongs to this class of genre sculpture. It epitomises the Alexandrian artisan’s mastery in conveying expression and animation in condensed scale. The subject, perhaps an old slave or an actor playing a stock character from New Comedy, is depicted wearing a tunic rolled up to his waist, to reveal his buttocks and an exceptionally long phallus, which is trapped between his legs. He stands with his legs crossed, balancing one foot on top of the other, his body contorted as he looks back over his shoulder to admire his rear. His arms are raised to balance himself, or perhaps he is engaging in a type of entertaining dance. His ridiculous stance is further heightened by his spindly legs, giving the impression that he is teetering on the brink of falling over. Representations of people with visible defects, such as rickets or other bone conditions, were popular, and particularly dwarves and hunchbacks. The latter were used for public and private entertainment and hunchbacks, especially, considered to bring good luck. It is thought that these figurines were therefore endowed with protective powers, able to ward off evil from their owners. That many are depicted with oversized genitalia reinforces this perceived apotropaic function.

Whilst caricatures were popular in other parts of the Hellenistic world and, indeed, remained highly prized works or art into the Roman period, those from Alexandria exude a particular wit, charm, and exaggerated mockery that cannot be surpassed, as the present figure attests. A theatrical performer wearing a tunic with his arms raised in a similar fashion is in the collection of the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore (inv. no. 54.744).