摘要
This paper examines the meanings and functions of gestures in comedy-related vase-paintings produced in southern Italy and Sicily during the 4th century BC.It discusses to what extent the gestures depicted in these images convey a specific meaning,and to what extent their“reading”depends on the composition as a whole,i.e.,the choice,positioning,and cognitive framework of the pictorial elements such as figures and objects.A first group of gestures indicates communication processes in“conversational”scenes usually with two figures.In these scenes,the meaning of gestures is of low importance,but their relative position within the composition displays which conversation partner dominates the other,often by inverting social hierarchies.The second group consists of more specific gestures that express strong and often negative emotions.They originate from tragedy-related vase-paintings,and this incongruence between tragic gesture and comic context causes a comic effect.In general,gestures are just one part of the cognitive framework of comedy-related vase-paintings which refer to comedy;however,they create a complex network of cognitive frames and thus evoke independent comic narratives.
