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A Monumental Marble Portrait Head of Antinous as Dionysos, Roman Imperial, Hadrianic, A.D 130-138
Description
- A Monumental Marble Portrait Head of Antinous as Dionysos
- Height 16 in. 40.6 cm.
Provenance
Galerie Segredakis, Paris, 1930s
Emmanuel Koutoulakis, Paris, 1988
Drouot, Paris, October 2nd, 2000, no. 906, illus.
Literature
Hugo Meyer, Antinoos. Die archäologischen Denkmäler unter Einbeziehung des numismatischen und epigraphischen Materials sowie der literarischen Nachrichten. Ein Beitrag zur Kunst- und Kulturgeschichte der hadrianisch-frühantoninischen Zeit, Munich, 1991, p. 94, K I 73, pl. 83,3-5
Arachne, Datenbank und kulturelle Archive des Forschungsarchiv für Antike Plastik Köln und des Deutsches Archäologisches Instituts, no. 36039
Condition
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NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.
Catalogue Note
For a statue of the deified Antinous depicted in the guise of Dionysos see D. Kleiner, Roman Sculpture, New Haven, 1992, fig. 208.
Antinous, a native of Bithynia in Asia Minor, was Hadrian's favorite. Based on the account given by Cassius Dio, LXIX.11, Chris Scarre writes (Chronicle of the Roman Emperors, London, 1995, pp. 101-102): "Hadrian took him with him on his visit to Egypt in AD 130, and it was there that Antinous met his untimely and rather mysterious end. In his lost autobiography, Hadrian related the simple story that Antinous had fallen from a boat during a trip on the Nile. Other people saw a more sinister event, in which Antinous offered himself as a sacrifice for Hadrian in some bizarre rite. Whatever the case, Hadrian was deeply grieved by the death of his favorite and founded a city, Antinoopolis, on the spot where he had died. He even identified a new star which he believed embodied Antinous's soul."