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Details
LOT 0751
Gallo-Roman Bronze Statuette of a Rider God
1ST CENTURY B.C.-1ST CENTURY A.D.
4 1/4 in. (154 grams total, 11 cm including stand).
Modelled in the round as a nude horseman with legs spread, musculature suggested to the chest and abdomen, shoulder-length hair with wavy locks, almond-shaped eyes and snub nose; right hand extended palm-upwards; mounted on a custom-made display stand. [No Reserve]
Provenance
From a collection acquired on the UK art market from various auction houses and collections mostly before 2000.
From an important Cambridgeshire estate; thence by descent.
Literature
Cf. Boucher, S., Recherches sur les Bronzes Figurés de Gaule Pré-Romaine et Romaine, Rome, 1976, item 354, for type.
Footnotes
The type has similarities with representations of Mercury on horseback, who is shown in an identical position. Images of Romano-Celtic rider-gods, possibly associated with the Roman god of war Mars, used similar iconography. There are a number of such rider statuettes from Roman Britain and Gaul, potentially votive offerings to a deity.
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