Roman Bronze Statue of Mars Gradivus

2ND CENTURY B.C.

5 1/4 in. (278 grams, 13.5 cm high).

Modelled in the round as a young beardless warrior hero with muscular body and rounded shoulders; wearing a high-crested pseudo-Attic helmet with a diadem; the hair arranged in orderly locks over his brow; the bent left hand would originally have held a shield and the extended right hand a spear.

Provenance

Ex collection of Dr Djafari (1900-1981), Kaiserslautern, Germany.

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.11812-206498.

Literature

Cf. Reinach, S., Repertoire de la statuarie Grecque et Romaine, Paris, 1930, pp.180 and 183, nos.7 (Louvre) and 2 (type B. Kerguerriec. Coll.P. du Chatellier in Kernuz), for similar.

Footnotes

This statue of Mars Gradivus, the marching god of war, was probably a cult offering. The statuette still presents an archaic Etruscan hairstyle, being part of the Italic statuettes of the god produced as votive offering to the temples or for private lararia. A Gallo-Roman period temple dedicated to the cult of Mars with a similar statuette has recently been found in Brittany.

CONDITION

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LOT 0898