Details

LOT 0035

Greek Bust of Cleopatra

PTOLEMAIC PERIOD, 1ST CENTURY BC

12 1/2" (11.9 kg total, 32cm).

A late Hellenistic bust of a young Ptolemaic queen, possibly Cleopatra VII, her head turned slightly to the right side, oval face, traces of a mole on her left cheek, her convex lidded eyes beneath modelled brows, small mouth with protruding lips arranged in a slight smile, rounded chin, the hair bound in a broad diadem, taenia, with ringlets below the diadem along the forehead covering the upper half of both ears; top and back of the head summarily sculpted, the original possibly completed in plaster; a small driller mortice at the crown for insertion of an attribute, trace of a small knot at the front of the diadem; mounted on a custom-made display stand.

Provenance

Formerly with Musée d'Art Classique de Mougins, France (June 2011-April 2020), inventory number MMoCA469; exhibited at The Classical Now, King’s College, London, UK (2 March-28 April 2020); acquired from Christie’s New York, 11 December 2009, lot 124; previously in the Mentezan family collection, Belgium, since 1972; accompanied by copies of the relevant Christie’s catalogue pages and by a copy of a French cultural export certificate; accompanied by an archaeological expertise by Dr. Raffaele D’Amato; this lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by AIAD certificate number no.10420-171117.

Published

Boardman, J., 'Greek Art', in Merrony, M. (ed.), Mougins Museum of Classical Art, 2011, p.58, fig.3; The Classical Now, King’s College London catalogue, 2018, p.106.

Literature

See Walker, S. & Higgs, P., Cleopatra of Egypt, from History to the Myth, London, 2001.

Footnotes

The head is similar to the portraits identified as belonging to the famous Cleopatra VII Philopator (69-30 BC), the lover of Julius Caesar, the spouse of Mark Anthony and last Queen of Egypt. The association with the portrait found in the Villa of Quintilii (Rome) in 1784, now in the Musei Vaticani, is striking (Walker & Higgs, 2001, p. 218). This head, according to Ludwig Curtius, came from a copy of the famous gold statue of Cleopatra set up by Julius Caesar in the temple of Venus Genitrix in his forum in Rome. Like the Vatican Cleopatra, our marble shares the oval face with a youthful countenance, wide open eyes and short mouth. Like the Vatican Cleopatra, our head closely resembles the portraits of the Queen on the coins, especially the portraits type found on the coins from Ascalon and Alexandria. The present head had the hair reworked in antiquity, or probably was refinished with supplementary material, typical for Ptolemaic statuary in marble.

CONDITION