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LOT 0128
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.
ProvenanceEx 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.
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.
FootnotesDespite 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.
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LOT 0128
Life-Size Roman Marble Lower Torso
Estimate £20,000 - 30,000€23,200 - 34,800 (for guidance only)$27,000 - 40,500 (for guidance only)
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Roman Buffware Oil Lamp Group
1st-3rd century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £260
Comprising four mould made lamps, one with ring handle with two shallow grooves on upper part, central filling-hole, small air hole in the lower part; one with volute lug handle, flat shoulder with a rounded outer ridge, flat-bottomed discus, central filling-hole, V-shaped channel between discus and nozzle, air hole above club; the other two with ring handles and grooves on upper and lower parts, shoulder with shallow pronounced relief, filling hole with air hole in front of the nozzle. 140 grams total, 67-82 mm
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.
The lamps have connections with models of 1st-3rd centuries A.D., in particular with Bayley type A group i, Bussiere form D VII and D X 5. -
Roman Buffware Oil Lamp with Gladiator
2nd century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £65
Mould made, solid round handle with two circles, flat shoulder with a shallow row of ovolo motifs, separated from the discus by two shallow circular grooves; side central filling-hole and small air hole on the lower field of discus, decorated with a gladiator raising his right hand; heart-shaped nozzle, base-ring marked by radiating lines. 97 grams, 10.5 cm
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.
The lamp seems to belong to the Bussiere form DX1, maybe variant a and c. This form groups together lamps with a plain shoulder and a heart-shaped nozzle. In an early variant, D IX 1, the upper curves of the ‘heart’ are nearly on a horizontal level. This is the case for all the African and Italic examples in the Getty collection. Scenes of circus and gladiators are very popular. -
Roman Silver Bow Brooch
1st century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £117
Of kräftig profilierte type with crescent above the bow and broad catch with lobe to the forward edge. 12 grams, 30 mm
Ex Cambridgeshire, UK, collection, 1990s.
