A MONUMENTAL ROMAN MARBLE PORTRAIT HEAD OF ANTINOUS AS DIONYSOS-OSIRIS, CIRCA A.D. 130–138

VAT reduced rateUK: Greenford Park Warehouse

Auction Closed

July 2, 04:42 PM GMT

Estimate

60,000 - 90,000 GBP

Lot Details

Description

Property from the Estate of Louis Maury, Switzerland

A MONUMENTAL ROMAN MARBLE PORTRAIT HEAD OF ANTINOUS AS DIONYSOS-OSIRIS, CIRCA A.D. 130–138

from an over-lifesize statue, turned to his left, his unruly hair bound in a diadem and surmounted by a wreath of ivy leaves and berries, clusters of grapes hanging from the sides, a hole above the forehead for insertion of a headdress, a vertical channel for a lead clamp above the nape of the neck; no restorations.

Height 40 cm.; height of face approx. 18 cm.

Galerie Segredakis, Paris, 1930s

Emmanuel Koutoulakis, Paris, before 1988

Drouot, Paris, October 2nd, 2000, no. 906, illus.

Sotheby’s, New York, December 10th, 2008, no. 43, illus.

Louis Maury, Geneva, acquired at the above sale

by descent to the present owners

Published

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. 94f., no. I 73, pl. 83,3-5

Hans R. Goette, "Review of Meyer op. cit.," Göttingische Gelehrte Anzeigen, vol. 250, 1998, p. 40

The identification of the present head as a portrait of Antinous was questioned by Goette, op. cit., p. 40, based on its atypical hairstyle. However, the disposition of the hair above the forehead warrants a classification as a loose replica of the main portrait type of Antinous (cf. especially a head in Athens: Meyer, op. cit., p. 31, no. I 9, pl. 7). The inserted headdress could have been an Egyptian crown, which is worn by Antinous in combination with a wreath of ivy leaves on a coin from Tarsos: Meyer, op. cit., p. 149, no.Mü 7, pl.118,5. Egyptian crown and ivy wreath identify Antinous as Dionysos-Osiris.