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_900x900.jpg "Roman Bronze Reclining Hercules Statuette")
_200x200.jpg "Roman Bronze Reclining Hercules Statuette")
.jpg "Roman Bronze Reclining Hercules Statuette")
LOT 0162
Roman Bronze Reclining Hercules Statuette
2ND-3RD CENTURY A.D.
9 3/4 in. (4.28 kg total, 25 cm wide including stand).
Hollow-formed figure of Hercules resting with his weight on his left arm, cradling his club; lionskin mantle drawn over his head and covering his shoulders, back and thighs; right arm resting on his right thigh, holding a corner of the mantle; scaphoid base with attachment holes; mounted on a custom-made display stand. [No Reserve]
ProvenanceFrom 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.
Cf. for the reclining Hercules in Sieveking, J., Munchner Jarhbuch der bildenten Kunst, N.F.I., 1, Munchen, 1924, 13f.; also Comstock, M., Vermeule Cornelius, Greek, Etruscan & Roman Bronzes in the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, New York, 1971, p.102, no.107, for the image of a recling young Herakles; for a similar Hercules as chariot fitting see cf. V.I.Ignatov, Funeral complexes with carts in the Roman province of Thrace (mid 1st - 3rd century c.), Sofia, 2018, pl.16, no.5.1.2.6.
FootnotesThis bronze was probably a chariot decoration. Hercules is represented here in mature age, bearded and with a cap and body covered by the skin of the Nemean Lion, killed in the first of his labours. This kind of image of Hercules was mainly widespread in the second to third century A.D., when emperors like Commodus and Maximianus Herculius identified themselves as the new Hercules at the top of the Roman state.
CONDITIONTimeLine Auctions follows a vetting process to ensure the authenticity and legality of all items, reinforcing our commitment to integrity and responsible trading. Each antiquity, antique, and coin lot undergoes thorough examination by a vetting committee of at least ten external specialists, professional trade association members, scientists, and archaeologists: Our Vetting Process
AUCTIONS:
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Roman Bronze Lion Statuette
2nd-3rd century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £169
With detailed textured curls to the mane, standing with one foreleg resting on a sphere. 78 grams, 54 mm
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. -
Roman Bronze Eagle on Bull's Head Statuette
2nd-3rd century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £169
Comprising an altar with a severed head of a bull on the top and an eagle perching on it; hollow to the underside, four stub feet to the angles. 46.4 grams, 58 mm
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.
The image of an eagle on the severed head of a bull was probably connected with the cult of Jupiter Dolichenus. -
Roman Marble Head of a Young Man
2nd-3rd century A.D.Estimate: £4,000 - 6,000 (‡+bp*)
Opening Bid: £2,000
Worked in high-relief with hairstyle typical of the transitional period from the Consulate to the Empire; oval face with a prominent forehead, oval eyelids and clearly defined lines around the eyes; hair arranged in vertical lines combed back from the forehead; pronounced lips, typical rendering of the wide auricles; the lower part of the tunic visible with a well defined round edge around the neck; mounted on a custom-made display stand. 5.94 kg total, 22.5 cm high including stand
Acquired from Gallery Gryphos, Munich, 1992. European private 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 search certificate number no.11996-211878.
The head was probably pertinent to a series of funerary family portraits. It has realistic modelling of male features, which speaks of a portrait in reduced dimensions or a reference to a well-known person in the environment where it was exhibited. The portrait is worked only on the front, leaving the back, as well as the lower part of the sculpture, roughly treated.
