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LOT 0130
Three Times Life-Size Roman Head of the Goddess Diana
1ST-2ND CENTURY A.D.
28 3/8 in (99.5 kg total, 72 cm high including stand).
The goddess (Greek Artemis) with elegant features, sensual lips and deep eyes; detailed treatment of the hairstyle in transverse braids across the brow, laurel wreath with two rows of leaves resting above the forehead, an architectural element that was placed for the support of the sima of a building of great size; mounted on a custom-made display stand.
ProvenanceEx private Belgian collection.
with Madame Andree Mace collection.
English private collection.
Accompanied by an academic report by Prof. Neritan Ceka.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate no.11625-199748.
See Bartman, E., Hair and the Artifice of Roman Female Adornment in American Journal of Archaeology Vol. 105, No. 1 (Jan 2001), pp.1-25, for discussion of Roman hairstyling in its social context; Fischer-Hansen, T. & Poulsen, B. (eds.), From Artemis to Diana: the goddess of man and beast. Collegium Hyperboreum and Museum Tusculanum Press, Copenhagen, 2009.
FootnotesThe upper part of the head, cut horizontally, creates a semi-circular surface, on which the rest of the hair, or an architectonic capital, may have been mounted into a T-shaped socket. The back of the head, cut perpendicularly, proves that the head was intended for architectural use, and not to be viewed in the round. This piece may have been intended as the head of a caryatid (a sculpture serving as a pilaster) or an architectural stone corbel (an architectural element placed to support the sima of a significant building).
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AUCTIONS:
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LOT 0130
Three Times Life-Size Roman Head of the Goddess Diana
Sold for (Inc. bp): £13,000
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Roman Marble Face Fragment
1st century A.D.Estimate: £1,000 - 1,400 (‡+bp*)
Opening Bid: £500
Plano-convex in section with exaggerated puffy cheeks and small pursed mouth; possibly from a putto in a figural frieze. 1.21 kg, 15.5 cm
Acquired in the 1992. Private collection, Switzerland, thence by descent. Private collection, since the late 1990s. -
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Roman Decorated Bronze Vessel Lid Group
3rd-4th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £515
Each a domed disc with central depression, concentric tendril bands and leaf motifs to shoulder, hinge lugs. 765 grams total, 11.2-11.6 cm wide
Acquired on the European art market in the early 2000s. with Galerie Rhéa, Zurich, Switzerland. -
Roman Bronze Miniature Herm Statuette
1st-3rd century A.D.Estimate: £180 - 240 (‡+bp*)
Opening Bid: £90
With stepped domed base, the shank square in section and tapering with helmetted head, stub arms, chevron hatching to the chest and male genitals. 33 grams, 56 mm
Acquired in the mid 1980s-1990s. Private collection, Switzerland, thence by descent. Private collection, since the late 1990s.
