Life-Size Roman Marble Lower Torso

CIRCA 2ND CENTURY A.D.

39 in. (101.4 kg total, 99 cm including stand).

Modelled in the round in cream-coloured marble; the hips and right leg of a slender male standing beside a column with the lower part of an animal at the base; the figure modelled with narrow hips and waist in contrapposto stance, genitals removed, muscular leg with slender ankle; adjacent column with remains of a branch or spur at the top, developing to a flared base with a crouching hare or rabbit; mounted on a custom-made stand.

Provenance

Ex Paris collection.
French gallery, Paris, 1990-2000s.

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.12088-213904.

Literature

See Reinach, S., Répertoire de la statuarie Grecque et Romaine, Paris, 1897, p.818, item 1; Cumont, F., Catalogue des sculptures & inscriptions antiques (Monuments Lapidaires) des Musées Royaux du Cinquantenaire, Bruxelles, 1913, pp.40-41, no.30.

Footnotes

Despite the loss, the semi-circular rise that separated the ribcage from the abdomen highlights the muscles of a young athlete or a hero. The statue could represent many male heroes or deities (Reinach, 1897, p.210 no.2, 817 no.4), but, by comparison with a similar sculpture in the Brussels Museum, it could refer to a rare image of the handsome and ferocious hunter Hippolytus, son of Theseus and the Amazon Antiope, killed by the curse of his father due to Phaedra’s deception. The presence of the small hare or rabbit at the base of the column could confirm the hypothesis of a hunter hero, and finds its parallel with the small animals (gecko and panther) visible on the Brussels sculpture.

CONDITION

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LOT 0128