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Details
LOT 0122
Roman Bronze Statuette of Young Mercury on the Eagle of Jupiter
2ND CENTURY A.D.
2 5/8 in. (63.3 grams total, 68 mm including stand).
Modelled in the round as a figure of an eagle perching with its head turned to the right; on its back, the god Mercury with caduceus on his left arm and petasos on his head; 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 51 (Mercury with caduceus).
Footnotes
The figure of the messenger-god Mercury seated on the pinion of the eagle possibly relates to a mythic incident. Similar imagery was used in respect of Jupiter in scenes where the god was supposed to welcome a newly-deified emperor into the pantheon: see Metropolitan Museum of Art accession no. 32.142.2, for a sardonyx instance of this motif.
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LOT 0122
Roman Bronze Statuette of Young Mercury on the Eagle of Jupiter
Sold for (Inc. bp): £260
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