LOT 0197

Eastern Roman Head of a Priest

PALMYRA, CIRCA 3RD CENTURY A.D.

10 1/2 in. (7.5 kg total, 26.5 cm including stand).

Carved in the half-round wearing flat-topped priest's cap with laurel wreath detailing and medallion, naïve facial features with exaggerated lentoid eyes and soft modelled cheeks and mouth; mounted on a custom-made stand.

Previously in the private collection of Mr Pierre Bart (1889-1964), an official of the French Mandate in Syria and Lebanon (1919-1936), and delegate to the Lebanese government until 1946.
Thence by descent in 1964 to his daughter Lucienne Amirault who brought the inherited collection with her to France from Beirut on 11th October 1976.

Accompanied by inventory list from 11 October 1976.
Accompanied by a copy of a previous six page catalogue document.
Accompanied by a copy of a signed Art Loss Register declaration no.S00218486.
Accompanied by French cultural passport no.233598.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by a search certificate number no.12399-225440.

Mobilier d’un Appartement Parisien, Chayette & Cheval, Paris, 28 January 2022, no. 128.

Cf. similar item in the British Museum under accession no. 1889,1012.8; Michalowski, K., Palmyre, Fouilles Polonaises, 1960, Warszawa-Paris, 1962, fig.192, for type.