Thymiaterion in the Form of a Singer Seated on an Altar

This man sitting on a Roman altar actually serves as a thymiaterion or incense burner. With his mouth open and his head thrown back, he sings enthusiastically. The singer wears the typical costume of a performer: a tunic over a long-sleeved shirt and pants. A singer usually appeared carrying a lyre; this man, however, holds a sistrum, a type of musical rattle commonly associated with the rites of the goddess Isis. He may, therefore, have been taking part in some special performance or ritual. The top of the altar pivots open to allow the user to place incense inside, and the bottom has air holes to facilitate the burning. The smoke from the incense, rather than song, would have risen through the singer's hollow body and issued from his mouth.

Stylistic details of this work, such as the hairdo and the garlands on the altar, suggest that it was made early in the first century A.D.