Terracotta Statuette of a Teacher and Pupil in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, February 2008

Terracotta Statuette of a Teacher and Pupil
Greek, Asia Minor, late 4th- early 3rd century BC

Accession # 23.259

The old man seated on a stool writes on a tablet that rests on his lap and looks toward the child to see if he is attentive. The group may simply represent a schoolmaster with a pupil, but the satyr-like appearance of the teacher may also indicate that this is a representation of Silenos, father of the satyrs, instructing the child Dionysos.

Text from the Metropolitan Museum of Art label.