Details

LOT 0124

Over Life-Sized Roman Marble Head of a Tetrarch

3RD-4TH CENTURY A.D.

10 5/8 in. (26.5 kg, 27 cm high).

Carved in the round with stern facial features, short curly hair and beard with light moustache; the broad brow modelled with characterful creasing, the eyebrows slightly drooping and eyes deep-set, the nose angular and small pinched mouth; possibly an emperor or a tetrarch; possibly retouched in places.

Provenance

Private collection, Europe.
Acquired on the European art market, 2002.
Private Swiss collection.

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 a search certificate number no.12574-232106.
This lot has been cleared against the Art Loss Register database, and is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.

Literature

Cf. Bianchi Bandinelli, R., Roma, la fine dell'arte antica, Milano, 1970, fig.76; Frel, J., Roman Portraits in the Getty Museum,Malibu, 1981, fig.93; Cf. Donati, A., Gentili, G., Costantino Il Grande, la civilta' Antica al bivio fra Occidente ed Oriente, Milano, 2005, pp.204ff.; cf. also Biscottini, P., Sena Chiesa, G., Costantino, 313 d.C., l’Editto di Milano e il tempo della tolleranza, Milano, 2012, pp.124, 179, 182, 185, 187.

Footnotes

The portrait, for style and artistic structure, can be compared with the ones of Diocletian and his colleague Maximianus Herculius, and with most of the emperors of the so-called Tetrarchic Period. Like in the portrait of Diocletian and Maximianus, this military man is portrayed with bags under his eyes and with a harsh facial expression. The wrinkles on his forehead and around his mouth show the feelings of a man engaged in difficult times. Stylistically the face presents affinity with the portrait of Diocletian or Maximianus Herculius at the Uffizi (inv.242), some elements also recall the portrait of Decius at the Musei Capitolini (inv.482). We can therefore date the artwork in the period between the second half of the 3rd century and the first decade of the 4th century A.D.