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_900x900.jpg "Large Roman Bronze Staff Finial with Bust of Serapis")
_200x200.jpg "Large Roman Bronze Staff Finial with Bust of Serapis")
_900x900.jpg "Large Roman Bronze Staff Finial with Bust of Serapis")
_200x200.jpg "Large Roman Bronze Staff Finial with Bust of Serapis")
.jpg "Large Roman Bronze Staff Finial with Bust of Serapis")
.jpg "Large Roman Bronze Staff Finial with Bust of Serapis")
LOT 0131
Large Roman Bronze Staff Finial with Bust of Serapis
CIRCA 2ND CENTURY A.D.
11 5/8 in. (1.4 kg, 29.5 cm high).
With luxuriant long wavy hair and characteristic vertical locks at the forehead, full beard with two large ringlets below the chin, wearing a chiton and a himation draped over the left shoulder, the head surmounted by a corn modius decorated with olive branch in relief, the bust supported on the back of an eagle standing atop an orb with spread wings, the eagle with its head slightly turned to the left, the feathers finely detailed; a finial from a staff or a ceremonial standard.
ProvenanceEx private collection, South Germany, 1980.
with Gorny and Mosch, Munich, 13 December 2003, lot 74.
with Christie's, New York, 8 June 2012, lot 239.
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 number no.11789-206489.
Cf. similar bust in the Virginia Museum of fine Arts, inventory no.98.23; another similar piece, but with the eagle upon the polos, in 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.217; for a bronze bust without eagle see the bust of Zeus Serapis in the Saint Louis Art Museum, inv. no. 69:1923.
FootnotesThe Emperor Septimius Severus (193-211 A.D.) modelled many of his portraits based on Serapis. But it was under Hadrian that the refurbishment of the statue in the Serapeum increased the demand for small-scale images, like this one, probably made during his reign and used atop of a processional sceptre or standard for the cult of the god.
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AUCTIONS:
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LOT 0131
Large Roman Bronze Staff Finial with Bust of Serapis
Estimate £80,000 - 100,000€92,800 - 116,000 (for guidance only)$108,000 - 135,000 (for guidance only)
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Roman Glass Vessel Collection
1st-4th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £260
Including a cobalt blue feeder bottle. 68 grams total, 46 -59 mm
Acquired 1970s-1996. Property of a North American collector. London collection, 2016. -
Roman Carnelian Gemstone with Farmer and Oxen
1st-2nd century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £780
The oval intaglio engraved with a man driving a pair of oxen with plough to left, a detailed tree with branches in the background, ground line under the oxen. 0.38 grams, 10 mm
Acquired in the late 1980s-early 1990s. Important North West London collection.
The gem could refer to the Augustan program of restoration of peace and security in the empire, after the agitated period of civil wars, with the possibility for men to return peacefully to their lands in a now peaceful empire. However, we cannot exclude that the image also refers to the well-known episode of Greek mythology, when Odysseus, to escape the call to arms in Troy, feigned madness by ploughing the fields without interruption, until he was unmasked by Palamedes, cousin of Agamemnon, who placed Odysseus' infant son Telemachus in front of the plough, forcing Odysseus to stop and reveal feigned insanity. -
Roman and Other Glass and Stone Bead Group
1st millennium B.C. and laterSold for (Inc. bp): £117
Comprising a quantity of small beads, in mixed shapes, colours and materials; each pierced for stringing. 81 grams total, 2-18 mm
UK gallery, early 2000s.
