Details

LOT 0192

Hellenistic or Roman Bronze Grotesque Figure

ALEXANDRIA, 1ST CENTURY B.C.-3RD CENTURY A.D.

4 1/2 in. (257 grams total, 11.5cm including stand).

Modelled standing nude in a contorted pose with left arm raised and right hand on the hip, head tilted; mounted on a custom-made 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. Rolland, H., Bronzes Antiques de Haute Provence, Paris, 1965, item 193; cf. Mitten, D.G., Doeringer, S.F., Master Bronzes from the Classical World, Exhibition, Fogg Art Museum/City Museum of Saint Louis/Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1967-1968, no.117, p.119, for similar.

Footnotes

Rolland (p.104) notes that such grotesque 'pygmy' figures may have been intended as caricatures. They were already produced in Alexandria since the 1st century B.C., and considered to be charms against the evil eye. Beautiful statuettes of this typology are well known from the Roman period, perhaps produced in the workshops of Alexandria, Egypt, on the occasion of the visit of the Emperor Caracalla.