A very fine fragment of statue of a hero, athlete, god or emperor, formed as the lower part of the belly and pelvis; very fine modelling of the anatomy; the central part with the navel is still well preserved, as well as part of the right thigh and the genitals; a melting vent for the bronze fusion is visible at the height of the attachment of the right thigh; the upper and lower parts, at the upper part of the left thigh, are cut in a very regular way, with a saw edge, probably conceived for the assemblage of the missing parts; good green patina.

PROVENANCE:
Property of a British gentleman; formerly in a private collection since the early 1970s; previously acquired on the London art market in 1970; accompanied by an expertise of Dr. Raffaele D’Amato.

LITERATURE:
See Cooley A.E., M.G.L. Cooley, Pompeii and Herculaneum, New York, 2014; Kleiner, F.S., A history of Roman art, Wadsworth, 2010; Poehler, E., Flohr, M., Cole K. Pompeii, art, industry and infrastructure, Oxford, 2011; the piece shows compositional similarities with the late second/early third century AD statue of Emperor Septimius Severus, preserved in the Cyprus Museum, Nicosia (Kleiner, 2010, p.234, fig.16.5).

FOOTNOTES:
Statues representing athletes, gods, emperors and heroes adorned public and private buildings in the Roman world. A good example is Pompeii where the amphitheatre was filled with statues within niches.