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_900x900.jpg "Roman Marble Head of Cupid on Georgian Pedestal")
_200x200.jpg "Roman Marble Head of Cupid on Georgian Pedestal")
_900x900.jpg "Roman Marble Head of Cupid on Georgian Pedestal")
_200x200.jpg "Roman Marble Head of Cupid on Georgian Pedestal")
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LOT 0160
Roman Marble Head of Cupid on Georgian Pedestal
1ST-2ND CENTURY A.D.
11 7/8 in. (6.12 kg total, 30 cm including stand).
Carved in the round as a bust of a child with short hair combed into a peak, fleshy features, lips slightly parted in a smile, fitted to an 18th century marble pedestal; mounted on a display stand with collection note 'Buste d'Enfant / Epoque Romaine / 1er Siècle'.
ProvenanceCollection of B. Poindessault (1935-2014), France, acquired before October 1975.
Oger & Blanchet Enchères, Paris, 2014.
German private collection, Cologne.
Private collection, acquired in 2015.
Accompanied by an academic report by Dr Marina Mattei.
Accompanied by a copy of an Art Loss Register certificate, no.S000104583.
Accompanied by a copy of French passport no.167453.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.12931-246329.
Cf. for similar heads Fröhlich, T., Attraverso gli occhi di Winckelmann: le sculture capitoline nella Geschichte der Kunst,Il Tesoro di Antichità, Winckelmann e il Museo Capitolino nella Roma del Settecento. Roma, Musei Capitolini, Palazzo Caffarelli e Palazzo Nuovo 7 dicembre 2017 - 22 aprile 2018, Roma, 2017; di Fazio, C., 'Statua di Eracle fanciullo' in Arte romana, inv. CIII, Roma, 2022, in Galleria Borghese.
FootnotesThe finely sculpted head represents a young child, probably intended as Eros (Cupid). Such depictions were produced in numerous variations to illustrate the stages of childhood and the capacity of children to undertake meaningful or symbolic actions. The softly modelled features and gentle expression recall the celebrated work of Boethos, The Boy Strangling the Goose, as well as the widespread images of Eros and the Erotes found throughout Graeco-Roman sculpture and painting.
In Graeco-Roman art, representations of children occupied an important and evolving role. Initially, youthful figures were portrayed as miniature adults, but from the 4th century BC onwards - particularly during the Hellenistic and Roman periods - artists began to study children’s anatomy more closely, reproducing their characteristic proportions and expressions with naturalistic sensitivity. The figure of Eros, the constant companion of Aphrodite, became the quintessential model of the child in ancient art, identifiable by his traditional attributes of wings and bow.
As evidenced by numerous statuettes and wall paintings unearthed at Pompeii, scenes of childhood were among the most popular subjects for adorning the gardens and interiors of wealthy Roman villas. These figures appear in lively and varied activities - playing, working, performing, or interacting with animals such as birds, hares, and dolphins - celebrating both the charm and vitality of early life within an idealised artistic vision.
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LOT 0160
Roman Marble Head of Cupid on Georgian Pedestal
Estimate £18,000 - 24,000€20,880 - 27,840 (for guidance only)$24,300 - 32,400 (for guidance only)
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Roman Terracotta Bullae, Tesserae or Token Group
3rd century B.C.-1st century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £117
A mixed group of ceramic bullae, tesserae or theatre tokens bearing low-relief motifs, mainly consisting of profile busts of deities. 32 grams total, 15-20 mm
From the private collection of a European gentleman (1942-2024), formed since the 1970s.
The term 'tessera' was used in Roman times to convey the Greek term σύμβολον (token). Small tiles are known as tokens, often shaped like coins, made of metal (copper, lead, iron), clay, bone, wood, or glass, stamped as well as engraved. The tokens, however, are not exclusively coin-shaped, as the Latin term 'tessera' suggests by etymologically referring to a square or at least a four-sided shape and confirmed in several cases by material remains of the past. Tokens and tesserae seem to have been used both in Athens and Rome for the distribution of goods. According to written sources, the term token is identified with credentials of the official authorities. They have also been interpreted as tokens of identity, as entrance tickets to theatre performances, tribunals or assemblies of citizens, archival material of seal engraving, as pawns in games, Charon’s obols and even as amulets. -
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Roman Wooden Wax Tablets from a Codex
Circa 2nd-3rd century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £9,100
Two well-preserved rectangular wax tablets of a polyptych, each made of dark hardwood, probably acacia; the inner leaf in two adjoining parts, with recessed panels on both sides, covered with dark layers of wax; the second is the rear cover of the polyptych, with a recessed wax covered writing panel to the inner face, the outer face flat and not inscribed; both tablets with two pairs of holes on the left frame for linking them together; remains of stylus engraved Greek script on all three writing panels; on the second tablet 11 lines in cursive Greek script, mentioning inter alia a gymnasiarchos, a local magistrate in Roman Egypt, probably from an accounting codex. 263 grams total, 18.6 x 17 cm
Property of a North London gentleman; previously in the Dean family collection since 1975. Accompanied by a copy of an illustrated academic report by Professor Dr phil. Peter Rothenhöfer. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.13177-248472.
Wax tablets written in Greek or Latin, were used by Romans as account registers (codices accepti et expensi); for transactions (for example, the tablets of the banker Lucius Caecilius Iucundus found in Pompeii); for lists of goods, inventories, and notes to be kept and archived; for Roman magistrates to annotate the salient events of their bureaucratical activities; for writing letters; for drawing up legal texts of various kinds: legacies, declarations of births and citizenship, reports of trials and diplomata militaria. -
Romano-Egyptian Terracotta Figure of a Slave with Fruit Basket
1st century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £221
Hollow-formed figure of a servant with grotesque facial features, pointed cap and a short tunic, carrying a pouch in the right hand and shoulders an overflowing fruit basket on the left; a large recess between his legs may be for the insertion of an oversized model phallus; pierced lug to rear of neck for suspension. 286 grams, 17.5 cm
Acquired from Galerie Puhze, Freiburg, between 2002 and 2010. From the collection of R. L., Lower Saxony. Ex Gorny & Mosch, auction 300, Munich, no.75. Accompanied by a certificate from Galerie Günter Puhze and a German export licence.
Grotesque and exaggerated figurines were produced in late Hellenistic times, especially in Alexandria. The artisans, fascinated with realism, started to reproduce scenes and figures from daily life, and seemed to have a preference for emphasis on ill and deformed persons. The characters with caricature features are usually referred to as grotesques.
