LOT 0191

Large Gallo-Roman Bronze Statuette of Cupid

1ST-3RD CENTURY A.D.

6 1/4 in. (403 grams, 16 cm high).

Modelled in the round leaping and winged, his right hand reaching above his head seemingly gesturing to retrieve arrows from a quiver once carried on his back, dressed in an exomis tunic leaving him naked below the torso, wearing a helmet or cap and ankle boots.

Acquired in Europe before 1994.
Private collection, Europe.

Accompanied by an academic report by Dr Raffaele D’Amato.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate no.11808-206795.

Cf. Daremberg - Saglio, Dictionnaire des Antiquités Grecques et Romaines, Paris, 1873-1917; Rolland, H., Bronzes Antiques De Haute Provence, Paris, 1965, items 112-118, and especially 116bis, for similar Gallo-Roman examples; Boucher, S. and Tassinari, S., Bronzes Antiques I, Inscriptions, Statuaire, Vaisselle, Paris, 1976, p.31, no.23, for similar; Jashemski, W.J., The gardens of Pompeii: Herculaneum and the villas destroyed by Vesuvius, II volumes, New York, 1979.

Often the statues of puttos or amorini (small loves) depicting personifications of Eros were covered with gold leaf. This was a frequent practice and the figures, when represented with wings, were known as chrysopteroi, meaning 'with golden wings'.