Ancient Sculpture and Works of Art

Ancient Sculpture and Works of Art

View full screen - View 1 of Lot 439. A Roman Marble Portrait Head of a Philosopher, circa 1st Century A.D..

Another Property

A Roman Marble Portrait Head of a Philosopher, circa 1st Century A.D.

Live auction begins on:

December 3, 03:30 PM GMT

Estimate

12,000 - 18,000 GBP

Bid

8,000 GBP

Lot Details

Description

with full beard, his hair radiating from the crown and falling in comma-shaped locks above the forehead and temples.


Height 13 cm.

Kenzo Collection, Paris, acquired in the early 1980s (the late fashion designer)

French private collection

Charles Ede, Ltd., London

acquired by the present owner from the above in 2008


Published

Charles Ede Ltd., London, Greek and Roman Sculpture in Stone, 2007, no. 9

Martha Weber, "Überlegungen zum Eikon des Platon von Silanion," Thetis, vol. 19, 2012, p. 26, note 37, fig. 9a

Bonhams, London, July 7th, 2022, no. 190, illus.

The present head is a reduced-scale Roman replica of a Greek portrait type of an unknown man of letters. For the type see B. Freyer-Schauenburg, Römische Mitteilungen, vol. 96, 1989, pp. 313ff., and R. v. den Hoff, Philosophenporträts des Früh- und Hochhellenismus, 1994, p. 79; the latter author dates the original to the early Hellenistic period. The occasional mistaken identification with portraits of the philosopher Hermarchos is based on confusion with another portrait type of which a replica was sold at Sotheby’s, London, December 17th, 2020, no. 91.

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