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_900x900.jpg "Life-Size Roman Bronze Head of an Empress")
_200x200.jpg "Life-Size Roman Bronze Head of an Empress")
_900x900.jpg "Life-Size Roman Bronze Head of an Empress")
_200x200.jpg "Life-Size Roman Bronze Head of an Empress")
.jpg "Life-Size Roman Bronze Head of an Empress")
.jpg "Life-Size Roman Bronze Head of an Empress")
LOT 0147
Life-Size Roman Bronze Head of an Empress
MID-3RD CENTURY A.D.
15 7/8 in. (4.07 kg, 40.5 cm high including stand).
A member of the Imperial family, possibly an empress, depicted with an elaborate coiffure, the hair at the back of the head parted in the middle and the two strands folded over each other, then pulled to the front to form a looped horizontal layer parted in the middle of the smooth forehead and drawn back, individual curls represented as vertical lines along the forehead hairline up to the exposed ears, two locks hanging down the sides behind the ears, extending to the upper part of the neck; beautiful facial rendering with stoic expression, exquisite detailing to the eyebrows, eyelids and pupils; snub-nose, closed lips, thin and graceful neck; mounted on a custom-made display stand.
ProvenanceAcquired on the German art market, early 1970s.
German private family collection; by gift to the owner's son in 2015.
Private collection, London.
Accompanied by an academic report by Dr Raffele D'Amato, and Dr Marina Mattei, former curator of the Capitoline Museums for over 40 years.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by a search certificate number no.12607-234556.
Cf. Felletti Maj, B.M., Museo Nazionale Romano, I Ritratti, Roma, 1953; Bianchi Bandinelli, R., Roma: la fine dell’arte Antica, Milano, 1970; Zanker, P., Roman Portraits: Sculptures in Stone and Bronze in the Collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2016, fig.30.
FootnotesThe mature age of the woman depicted in the portrait is revealed by the oval gaunt, deep-set eyes and the folds at the sides of the nose and mouth. The woman’s head shows the typical traits of the full and mature 3rd century A.D., executed in a Hellenistic style tradition. Our sculpture is well inserted in the imperial portrait type, bearing technical and aesthetical parallels to portraits in bronze. The hairstyle could be Scheitelzopf (or reverse plait), tightened by a hairnet, pinned to the top of the head. The same type of hairstyle, albeit with variations in the details (decorative curls and position of the hair loop), is found on a few other portraits of women that were dated to the Period of Gallienus by Marianne Bergmann. Some of the portraits in this typologically related group are likely to be private portraits. Hereby physiognomic features and especially imperial coin portraits need to be taken into account. In this context, it is important to compare the portrait with that of Trebonianus Gallus in the MET.
Like the sculpture of Trebonianus Gallus, the head fits stylistically with Roman provincial bronzes from the Eastern Mediterranean or North Africa, possibly from workshops of Asia Minor or from the great metropolis of Alexandria, where bronze statuary was more common and Hellenistic influences remained strong.
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AUCTIONS:
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LOT 0147
Life-Size Roman Bronze Head of an Empress
Estimate £40,000 - 60,000€46,400 - 69,600 (for guidance only)$54,000 - 81,000 (for guidance only)
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Roman Glass Finger Ring Collection
1st-4th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £169
Including twisted-trail, facetted and other types. 4.95 grams total, 16-21 mm
From the private collection of the late Mr S.M., 1969-1999. -
Roman Gold Applique with Magical Symbols
1st-4th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £546
A repoussé disc with beaded border, esoteric magical symbols to the centre including a winged phallus, a scorpion, a snake, a dog / wolf, a squirrel(?) and a fish/dolphin; a small loop to the reverse. 0.98 grams, 19.2 mm
Private English collection, formed between the late 1970s and early 1990s. Private collection, UK. -
Roman Wooden Tablet with Testamentary Dispositions of Iulius Pomp(onius)
Mid 4th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £2,600
The third and last tablet of a Roman will made by Iulius Pomp(onius?), parts of lost surface on the inner face, two small holes both at the upper and lower rim (for binding the tablets of this document together); on the inner face the recess inscribed with twenty-one lines of Roman cursive script consisting of testamentary dispositions regarding a special category of fields (gemiones), ending with the mancipatory formula of Roman testaments; on the outer face two sulci and signatures of witnesses. 106 grams, 20.2 x 16.2 cm
Acquired by Albert Sfez in the early 1950s. Formerly the property of Monsieur Alain Sfez, a Belgium collector; acquired by gift from his father Albert Sfez, in 1965. Acquired by a London dealer in 1973. From an important London collection since 1975; thence by descent. Accompanied by a copy of an illustrated academic report by Professor Dr phil. Peter Rothenhöfer. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.12601-230811.
Professor Dr phil. Peter Rothenhöfer writes: 'Without any doubts this tablet is an original document from Roman times. Because only few Roman testaments have survived this document is of great importance both for Roman Legal and Social History'.
