Roman Bronze Statuette of Mercury

3RD CENTURY A.D.

3 1/8 in. (38.5 grams total, 82 mm including base).

Modelled nude, standing on an ellipsoid base with mantle to the left shoulder and caduceus supported by the left arm, item (perhaps a marsupium) in the right hand, winged petasos to the head with bird perched above the left ear; 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. Rolland, H., Bronzes Antiques de Haute Provence, Paris, 1965, item 39, for type.

Footnotes

The statuette belongs to Gallo-Roman glyptic tradition, whose geometric treatment of the drapery recalls that of a statuette in the Avignon museum and the statue of the seated god of Sommerécourt (Haute-Marne) of Celtic tradition. The winged petasos, as in many other statuettes, seems to be made of tortoise shell.

CONDITION

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LOT 0709