A Classical Anglerfish

This small terracotta statue (12 cm long) depicts a deep sea anglerfish. Its provenance is obscure; it can only be traced back to about 2000, when it was listed in a private collection. The seller dates it to the 4th century BC, not sure on what basis. If so it most likely came from southern Italy, where they had a thing for the anglerfish motif, painting it onto pottery "fish plates" and so on.