Roman Bronze Statuette of Mercury

3RD CENTURY A.D.

3 1/2 in. (48 grams total, 89 mm including stand).

Standing erect with right hand extended sideways, left arm hanging at his side supporting a caduceus; 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, items 34, 43,58, for type.

Footnotes

Although the statuette seems have been realised in a provincial Gallo-Roman workshop, as demonstrated by the inequality of the treatment of the anatomical dimensions, the movement of the body and head positioned to the right, derive from models of the Alexandrian type.

CONDITION

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LOT 0893