LOT 0135

Life-Size Roman Marble Torso of a Ram

1ST CENTURY B.C.-1ST CENTURY A.D.

35 in. (long), 16 in. (high) (155 kg, 89 cm (long), 41 cm (high) excluding stand).

The naturalistic rendering of the animal is particularly evident in the modelling of the muscles and shaggy fur, which originally belonged to a multi-figure group intended for prominent display in an official space, such as a public bath, or in the private gardens of a luxurious villa; accompanied by a custom-made display stand.

Acquired in Brussels, circa 1980.
with Christie's, South Kensington, 6 October 2011, no.121.
Jean-David Cahn AG, Basel, Switzerland.
Private collection, England.

Accompanied by a copy of an Art Loss Register certificate, no.S00074876.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate no.13079-249669.

For animal sculptures of the Roman Period, cf. the sculpture of a bear in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Vermeule, C., Neuerburg, N., Catalogue of the Ancient Art in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, 1973, 13f, no.24; and two sculptures of dogs, which are similar in style and probably belonged to the same group, cf. Sotheby's Antiquities, London, 31 October 2003, no.66; and Sotheby's Antiquities, New York, 24-25 November 1987, no.155.

The sculpture may represent the goat Amalthea, nurse of Zeus, one of the most famous animals in Graeco-Roman mythology. At the same time, it could simply be a representation of a ram, an animal typically sculpted in sacrificial reliefs of the Roman world.