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LOT 0657

Sold for (Inc. bp): £130

ROMAN BRONZE STATUETTE HEAD OF MERCURY
CIRCA 2ND CENTURY A.D.
1 1/4 in. (41 grams, 31 mm).

Wearing a broad-brimmed petasos with wings above, curls of hair beneath, youthful features. [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 47.

FOOTNOTES:
Mercury was the god of trade and industry, whose principle shrine in the city of Rome was at the Circus Maximus. Originally he was one of the gods of riches and profit and it was not until he was equated with the Greek Hermes that he became the god of tradesmen and merchants. He was also the god of thieves and was associated with healing mainly in Gaul where he had a number of important temples connected to sacred springs.

CONDITION
VETTING:
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