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Grotesques, Caricatures and the Clever Mice at Pistir

Publication at Faculty of Arts |
2017

Abstract

The article discusses a selection of five particular pieces from the 27 sealings found at Pistiros in Bulgaria in 2012, most of them with two imprints, apparentyl attached to a document with a contract or a deal. Subjects represented on the seals discussed here show grotesque, caricature andmice acting as humans.

They reflect a specific anecdotic side of Greek art in its northern fringes expressed in grotesque, at the time of Philip II and Alexander the Great. Attached is a late 4th century Attic pelike from Pistiros with similar caricature of Rhea and Kronos or the maenad with Dionysus from the ca. 310 BC destruction.