Ancient Sculpture and Works of Art
Ancient Sculpture and Works of Art
A ROMAN MARBLE PORTRAIT BUST OF A MAN, TRAJANIC, EARLY 2ND CENTURY A.D.
Auction Closed
December 3, 05:06 PM GMT
Estimate
300,000 - 500,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
A ROMAN MARBLE PORTRAIT BUST OF A MAN, TRAJANIC, EARLY 2ND CENTURY A.D.
on an integral trapezoidal base, the head turned slightly to his right, with short beard and moustache, his finely carved hair radiating from the crown and falling in long comma-shaped locks over the forehead; tip of nose restored in marble.
Total height 58.5 cm. Height of head 24 cm.
European private collection, 19th or early 20th Century (based on restoration techniques)
Eric Lidow (1912-2013), Los Angeles, acquired prior to 2000
Bonhams, Los Angeles, December 9th, 2013, no. 6, illus. (as 18th Century)
acquired by the present owner on the English art market
Another ancient copy of this portrait type, formerly in the Giustiniani Collection (Galleria Giustiniana, ca. 1640, vol. 2, pl. 24: http://arachne.uni-koeln.de/item/buchseite/41771), is in the Torlonia collection (C. Visconti, I monumenti del Museo Torlonia, 1885, p. 53, no. 79, pl. 20: http://arachne.uni-koeln.de/item/buchseite/429285). For the style of the hair and beard cf. a portrait in New York: P. Zanker, Roman portraits in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2016, p. 156f., no. 54. For the form of the base and bust support cf. a portrait bust in Alanya: J. Inan and E. Alföldi-Rosenbaum, Römische und frühbyzantinische Porträtplastik aus der Türkei. Neue Funde, 1979, p. 264, no. 247, pl. 176.