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LOT 0941
Roman Marble Head of a Young Man
2ND-3RD CENTURY A.D.
8 7/8 in. (5.94 kg total, 22.5 cm high including stand).
Worked in high-relief with hairstyle typical of the transitional period from the Consulate to the Empire; oval face with a prominent forehead, oval eyelids and clearly defined lines around the eyes; hair arranged in vertical lines combed back from the forehead; pronounced lips, typical rendering of the wide auricles; the lower part of the tunic visible with a well defined round edge around the neck; mounted on a custom-made display stand.
ProvenanceAcquired from Gallery Gryphos, Munich, 1992.
European private collection.
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.11996-211878.
See Bianchi Bandinelli, R., L'arte Romana nel centro del potere, dalle origini alla fine del II secolo d.C., Roma, 1969; Scrinari, V. S. M., Sculture Romane di Aquileia, Roma, 1972; Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, Greek & Roman Portraits 470 BC – AD 500, Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1972, fig.32, for similar funerary portraits in high-relief; Vostchinina, A., Musée de l’Hermitage, Le portrait Romain, Album et catalogue illustré de toute la collection, Leningrad, 1974, plate I, for similar funerary portraits; Agnoli, N., Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Palestrina, Le sculture, Roma, 2002.
FootnotesThe head was probably pertinent to a series of funerary family portraits. It has realistic modelling of male features, which speaks of a portrait in reduced dimensions or a reference to a well-known person in the environment where it was exhibited. The portrait is worked only on the front, leaving the back, as well as the lower part of the sculpture, roughly treated.
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LOT 0941
Roman Marble Head of a Young Man
Estimate £3,500 - 4,500€4,060 - 5,220 (for guidance only)$4,730 - 6,080 (for guidance only)
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Roman Terracotta Lamp with Gladiator
1st-2nd century A.D.Estimate: £1,800 - 2,400 (‡+bp*)
Opening Bid: £1,000
Discoid body with sunken discus with bas-relief scene of a gladiator in combat with gladius poised and scutum raised above his head, D-shaped nozzle with volutes; supplied with a custom-made stand. 167 grams total, 19 cm including stand (lamp 11.6 cm)
Ex Axel Guttmann collection of ancient arms and armour, Germany (1944-2001). Axel Guttmann collection of ancient arms and armour, part 2, Christie's London, 28 April 2004, no.178 (part). Acquired by the present owner at the above sale. Accompanied by a copy of the Christie's lot listing. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.12235-222198. -
Roman Marble Janiform Herm Head of Ariadne and a Maenad
1st-2nd century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £11,050
Carved architectural element depicting a double herm comprising: a diademed female bust with long wavy hair framing the face, slender features with small mouth and raised lids; the other side with a diademed female with hair arranged in neat curls on the forehead, large eyes and small mouth, taenia shown on each side of the neck; base reworked with drilled sockets for mounting. 12.6 kg, 29 cm high
Old collection, acquired in the 1970s. Acquired by inheritance from Mr N.S. Accompanied by an academic report by Dr Marina Mattei and Dr Laura Maria Vigna. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate no.12084-211893.
The head with elaborately curled hair and diadem could represent Ariadne, as shown by comparisons with a fragment of a two-faced herm with bearded Dionysus and Ariadne preserved in the Antiquarium Ostiense, dated to the lmperial Roman age. The heads could be interpreted either as Ariadne and a Maenad, or as two Maenads being characterised by the diadem and long taeniae. The association of these figures with Dionysus is congruent with the typology of the herm, which refers to rural places and theatres. Numerous herms in fact attest that this type of sculpture was used in contexts linked to Dionysus and his sacred procession as well as, obviously, the representation of Ariadne, his female partner and double. The example fits into the class of domestic sculpture with a decorative function, mostly used to adorn peristyles and viridaria; the type placed at the crown of columns and pillars is quite documented, in particular in the version with the head of Dionysus contrasted with that of Ariadne or a Maenad. -
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Large Transparent Roman Glass Bottle
2nd-4th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £624
With large piriform body and dimpled base; funicular, waisted neck and rolled rim. 85 grams, 19 cm high
Acquired in the 1970s, thence by descent 2012. Private UK collection, Cambridge, UK. Property of an East Sussex, UK, gentleman.
