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_900x900.jpg "Roman Marble Head of Hercules Wearing the Nemean Lion Skin")
_200x200.jpg "Roman Marble Head of Hercules Wearing the Nemean Lion Skin")
_900x900.jpg "Roman Marble Head of Hercules Wearing the Nemean Lion Skin")
_200x200.jpg "Roman Marble Head of Hercules Wearing the Nemean Lion Skin")
_900x900.jpg "Roman Marble Head of Hercules Wearing the Nemean Lion Skin")
_200x200.jpg "Roman Marble Head of Hercules Wearing the Nemean Lion Skin")
.jpg "Roman Marble Head of Hercules Wearing the Nemean Lion Skin")
.jpg "Roman Marble Head of Hercules Wearing the Nemean Lion Skin")
.jpg "Roman Marble Head of Hercules Wearing the Nemean Lion Skin")
LOT 0126
Roman Marble Head of Hercules Wearing the Nemean Lion Skin
IMPERIAL, CIRCA 1ST CENTURY A.D.
11 1/4 in. (8 kg total, 28.5 cm including stand).
Modelled with naturalistic features, gazing left, sculpted pupils and strong lids; luxuriant beard and moustache framing the face; strong forehead with tightly formed curls emerging from beneath the lion's skin hood; the hood with clear eye detailing and the mane with regularly arranged tufts; original iron pin to the front of the muzzle; mounted on a custom-made display stand.
ProvenancePrivate Germany collection, 1981.
with Gorny and Mosch, 19 June 2013, no.3.
Ex A.S.collection, Florida, USA.
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.12085-214457.
See Reinach, S., Répertoire de la statuaire Grecque et Romaine, Paris, 1897, p.211, item 3; Kansteiner, S., Herakles, Die Darstellungen in der Grossplastik der Antike, Köln, 2000, pp.32ff., figs.45-48, for the type; Kansteiner, S., ‘Lysipps Statuen des Herakles’ in Archaeologischer Anzeiger, 2020 (1), pp.120-136ff., fig.14.
FootnotesThe head is a Roman copy of a Hellenistic original, of ‘Palazzo Pitti/Wilton House’ type depicting Hercules wearing the skin of the Nemean lion with the paws of the lion crossed upon the breast, his left arm holding the club and the right hand holding the golden apples of Hesperides. The representation of a slight movement of the head also shows elements of the Lysippean Antalya-Borghese type (example from the Archaeological Museum of Naples with the head covered by the Nemean lion skin).
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AUCTIONS:
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LOT 0126
Roman Marble Head of Hercules Wearing the Nemean Lion Skin
Sold for (Inc. bp): £7,800
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Romano-British 'Published' Bronze Gaming Counter
Circa 1st century A.D. or laterSold for (Inc. bp): £293
Discoid in form with twelve impressed dots, two parallel lines and one perpendicular. 4.5 grams, 18 mm
Found Cirencester, UK, prior to 1999. Acquired 4 February 1999. From the important private collection of dice and gaming pieces of Colin Narbeth, London, UK, collection no.59. Accompanied by a copy of the relevant Celtic & Roman Artefacts book pages where this object is published. -
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Roman Bronze Phallic Seal Box
2nd-3rd century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £1,170
Piriform two-part container with three holes to the underside, hinge to the broad end, obverse with ropework border and stylised phallus in high-relief. 9.97 grams, 38 mm
Private collection of Mr S.A., Switzerland, 1990s, thence by descent. -
Roman Redware Pottery Sherd with Achilles and Thetis
4th-5th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £169
From the upper part of a vessel, displaying a frieze of profile images and figural scenes from Graeco-Roman mythology: a musician in late Roman garments playing a harp (Orpheus?), a seated woman weaving with a distaff in her hand (Penelope?), a kneeling naked woman imploring a naked warrior fighting with shield and spear (Achilles and Thetis?). 202 grams, 18 cm
Acquired 1960s-1990s. From the late Alison Barker collection, a retired London barrister.
This terra sigillata fragment appears to have been part of a large tray. Elements of dying paganism were still used to celebrate the deeds of the new imperial heroes. Note the detailed late Roman clothing of the harpist, with a chlamys-paludamentum on the right shoulder and the tunic decorated with clavi and orbiculi.
