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Details
LOT 0159
Roman Bronze Head of a Goddess
1ST CENTURY A.D.
3 3/4 in. (415 grams total, 94 mm including stand).
Hollow-formed with neatly dressed hair in a chignon, small facial features and exaggerated eyes; mounted on a custom-made stand. [No Reserve]
Provenance
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. Boucher, S. & Tassinari, S., Musée de la Civilisation Gallo-Romaine a Lyon: Bronzes Antiques I. Inscriptions, Statuaire, Vaisselle, Lyon, 1976, item 34, for type.
Footnotes
The head could be considered to represent the goddesses Juno or Tutela. The head is crowned with a simple diadem, which could fit with the identification of Venus, Juno, or Diana, or more particularly with a series of Roman benefactor and protective goddesses: Fortuna, Abundance or Concordia.
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