LOT 0180

Large Roman Bronze Statuette of Jupiter

CIRCA 3RD CENTURY A.D.

8 1/2 in. (1.1 kg, 21.5 cm including stand).

Modelled in the half-round and hollow to the reverse, the god with knees flexed, one of his sandaled feet resting on a ram's head; left arm raised to hold a sceptre (absent) and right hand holding a thunderbolt; pierced at the midriff for attachment; mounted on a custom-made stand. [No Reserve]

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.

Exhibited at the Harwich Museum, Harwich, Essex, UK, 11th September-2nd December 2024; accompanied by a copy of a photograph of the artefacts on display.

Cf. similar (but not identical) statuette in Boucher, S., Recherches sur les Bronzes Figurés de Gaule Pré-Romaine et Romaine, Rome, 1976, item 231.

The figurine of Jupiter seems to be a provincial work of Gallo-Roman origin. Contrary to the iconographic tradition of the king of the gods, he is usually depicted nude and with a cloak on his left arm, the statuette shows a Jupiter covered by a large cloak and vestis talaris, which also closely resembles the Gallo-Roman iconography of Jupiter-Sucellus.