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Details
LOT 0624
Roman Bronze Cavalryman Statuette with Paenula
1ST-3RD CENTURY A.D.
4 in. (271 grams, 10.1 cm including stand).
Modelled in the round in seated pose with both hands extended forwards to hold reins; the body covered by an open-fronted paenula riding cape; boots to the feet; mounted on a custom-made stand. [No Reserve]
Provenance
Found in Britain.
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.
Literature
Cf. Mackintosh, M.C., The Divine Horseman in the Art of the Western Roman Empire, 1992, fig.12, for a similar statuette from Rouen.
Footnotes
The statuette, like the one from Rouen published by Mackintosh, represents a link between the Romano-British and Gallo-British figurines of the cavalrymen and Imperial statuary. They are of relatively good workmanship and represents a rider seated on a walking horse. The rider is dressed in a short-sleeved tunic and the military paenula, echoing the representation of Marcus Aurelius on his horse. The raised arm could mean that he was wearing a spear.
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