Details

LOT 0096

Roman Marble Statue Head

1ST CENTURY B.C.-1ST CENTURY A.D.

18 1/4 in. (17.8 kg total, 46 cm including stand).

A characteristic, rugged portrait with hairstyle typical of princes of the period, or of the god Hermes; the portrait representing a young man with a broad and flat face with a prominent forehead, naked brow, rounded eyelids and clearly defined lines around the eyes; detailed eyes and visible pupils, shallow eyebrows and pronounced lips; realistic hair arranged in locks on the forehead and ending with a precise line at the base of the neck; a recess to each side of the head for attachment of ears or possibly of headgear; mounted on a custom-made display stand.

Provenance

French collection, 1990s-early 2000s.
Previously with Hampel Fine Art, Munich, Germany.
with Vermot & Associés, Paris, 7 October 2017, lot 90 (65,000-70,000 Euros).
From an important Paris gallery, France.
Ex private Parisian collection.
Accompanied by an academic report by Dr Raffaele D'Amato.
Accompanied by scholarly note TL05450 by Dr Ronald Bonewitz.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate no.114500-194057.

Literature

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; Agnoli, N., Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Palestrina, Le sculture, Roma, 2002; Goddio, F., Fabre, D., Egitto, Tesori Sommersi, Moncalieri, 2009; Gagarin, M., Fantham, E., The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome volume I, Oxford, 2010.

Footnotes

The face is that of a young subject, portrayed in a naturalistic way, with the intention to represent a king or a young Ptolemaic prince. The absent nose and the worn surface make it difficult to completely understand the physiognomy, although the prolonged lines of the eyes, extending to the corners, reveals a characteristic Egyptian trait. The representation of hair is not Egyptian, however, but appears in many Ptolemaic and Roman statues with Greek features. A parallel can be found in the colossal head recovered from the sea in the harbour of Alexandria (Goddio, Fabre, 2009, fig.20).

CONDITION