Louise Termignon
Stock Inventory and Discovery Sale Coordinator
Lot 116
BRÛLEUR D'ENCENS ROMANO-ÉGYPTIEN EN BRONZE DÉCORÉ D'UN ACTEUR COMIQUE ASSIS
Ca. Ier-IIeme siècle ap. J.C.
12 December 2025, 11:00 CET
Paris, Avenue Hoche€3,000 - €5,000
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Siobhan Quin
Senior Specialist
Joanna van der Lande
Consultant
BRÛLEUR D'ENCENS ROMANO-ÉGYPTIEN EN BRONZE DÉCORÉ D'UN ACTEUR COMIQUE ASSIS
Ca. Ier-IIeme siècle ap. J.C.
Ca. Ier-IIeme siècle ap. J.C.
A ROMANO-EGYPTIAN BRONZE INCENSE BURNER WITH A SEATED COMIC ACTOR
Circa 1st-2nd Century A.D.
The apertures in the form of the mouths of theatrical masks, the base cast as a lotus flower
(The base and lid separate with remnants of glue)
17.9 cm (7 1/16 in.) high
Footnotes
Provenance
The Property of a Gentleman; Fine Antiquities, Christie's, London, 17-18 November 1977, lot 446.
Private collection, Belgium, acquired at the above sale.
This is an unusual depiction of a comic actor surmounting an incense burner with additional theatrical masks surrounding. The Egyptian association is assumed because of the lotus flower. The top half would have opened for the incense to be placed within, the smoke would have issued from the mouth of the actor. For another incense burner of a different form with a seated comic actor, cf. a thymiaterion in the form of a comic actor seated on an altar at The Getty Museum, obj. no. 87.AC.143, where the top of the altar opens to allow the incense to be placed inside.