A large terracotta fragment of a Hellenistic portable stove or brazier with a representation of a theatre mask of the bearded head of Silenus. Dating from the 3rd-1st Century BC this fragment originates from a tall elaborate stove which consisted of a high cylindrical pedestal with a bowl-shaped cavity for the fuel and three moulded projections that supported the cooking pot - this is one of those projections. Stoves were the main means of cooking and heating in Hellenistic houses throughout the eastern Mediterranean and were generally situated in domestic settings - courtyards or sometimes on the roof. Stove supports were often decorated with theatrical satyr masks which were a fashionable decorative motif during the Hellenistic period. The elaborate design and highly decorative nature of these stoves suggest that they were intended to be seen rather than concealed, and it seems likely that they had a use beyond the mere functionality of cooking and heating - they may have also served to burn incense in domestic religious rituals. Examples from the same mould exist in the collections of the British Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts Boston and were excavated at Halicarnassus, Naukratis, and the Parthenon in Athens. This example is likely to have been excavated at Halicarnassus as indicated by the light clay deposit covering the surface. This is an excessively rare museum quality artefact - A large beautiful fragment of Hellenistic art.

Height: 96 mm. Width: 85 mm. Depth: 66 mm.