LOT 0091

Iberian Bronze Figurine of a Man in Egyptianizing Dress

4TH-2ND CENTURY B.C.

4 in. (77.8 grams total, 10 cm including stand).

Standing with arms held straight at the sides, short hair with neck-ring to rear, short-sleeved tunic with pleats to centre-front and rear, wide belt; perhaps a monumental fitting; gas permeation to rear right leg; mounted on a custom-made stand.

Private collection, Paris, France, assembled in the 1950s-1960s.
with Tessier-Sarrou & Associés, Paris, 2015.
European private collection.

Accompanied by a copy of an Art Loss Register certificate, no.S00107108.
Accompanied by a copy of French cultural export passport no.167803.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by a search certificate no.12651-234613.

See Mitten, D.G. & Doeringer, S.F., Master Bronzes of the Classical World, New York, 1968, pp.51-52, figs.33, 34, for type. Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2021.40.71 (Iberian bronze statuette with similar stocky proportions and rigid pose). British Museum, 1974,1212.3 (East Greek bronze figure of similar scale and simplified anatomy). British Museum, 1872,0816.89 (Cypro-Archaic bronze figurine demonstrating the Egyptianizing "Egyptian dress and pose" in the Mediterranean). Louvre Museum, E 4080 (Egyptian Late Period bronze showing the standard shendyt kilt and arms-at-side pose).

The youth’s broad shoulders are reminiscent of archaic Greek kouros figures, here in a specifically Iberian expression. The broad egg-shaped head has widely spaced, deep-set, flat oval eyes and lips of similar form.