Bronze Bust with Phallus

ROMAN, 1ST-2ND CENTURY A.D.

5 3/4 in. (377 grams total, 14.5 cm including stand).

Modelled as a grotesque male head, depicted clean-shaven and hairless apart from a small tuft of hair to the rear with a raised phallus above; the neck developing to a broad circular socket with flange rim; mounted on a custom-made display stand. [No Reserve]

Provenance

From an old Nevers collection, acquired before 1960.
Ex Hotel des Ventes de Nevers.
Property of a French collector.

This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by a search certificate number no.12035-214900.

Literature

Cf. Esperandieu, E. & Rolland, H., Bronzes Antiques de la Seine Maritime, XIII Supplement a Gallia, Paris, 1959, no.178; Rolland, H., Bronzes Antiques de Haute Provence, Paris, 1965, item 196; see also the Metropolitan Museum of Art, accession no.97.22.6.

Footnotes

The exact meaning of these grotesque busts surmounted by a phallus is disputed, although Rolland (p.106) believes that they originated in Alexandria among the priests of the cult of Isis. Similar busts have been discovered in the Roman Gallia, at Bavay and Strasbourg.

CONDITION

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LOT 0035