A Roman Marble Torso of Dionysos, circa 1st century B.C./1st century A.D.

VAT reduced rateUK: Greenford Park Warehouse

Estimate

300,000 - 500,000 GBP

Lot Details

Description

over-lifesize, standing with the weight on his right leg, his right arm lowered, his left arm once resting on a support, his head once turned to the left, his finely carved hair falling in two long strands on each shoulder and in a thick plait of corkscrew curls bound in a fillet over the nape of the neck and upper back.

Height 119 cm.

Emmanuel Koutoulakis, Paris, 1987

Lucio Amelio, Paris, acquired from the above

European private collection, by descent from the above

acquired by the present owner from the above in 1996

Published

invitation to the vernissage of Emmanuel Koutoulakis' exhibition "Souvenirs de marbre", 4, rue de l'Échelle, Paris, October 27th, 1987

https://www.artribune.com/arti-visive/arte-contemporanea/2020/09/massimo-de-carlo-piece-unique-galleria-lucio-amelio/ (checked on 18th October, 2018)

Emmanuel Koutoulakis, 4, rue de l'Échelle, Paris, "Souvenirs de marbre", October 27th-December 31st, 1987

Lucio Amelio (1931-1994), "Pièce Unique gallery, rue Jacques Calot", 1989 (concept and window design by Cy Twombly)

XVIIIe Biennale internationale des antiquaires, "Le Carrousel du Louvre," Paris, September 13th-29th, 1996

Jean-Philippe Mariaud de Serres (Galerie de Serres, Rue Bonaparte, Paris), issued a certificate of authenticity for this lot on September 25th, 1996.

The present torso is a fine Roman replica of the Dionysos Richelieu type. The eponymous replica is in the Louvre (https://collections.louvre.fr/en/ark:/53355/cl010279168). Several other replicas are known, for example in the Vatican (arachne.dainst.org/entity/1080820), or from Cyrene (arachne.dainst.org/entity/1069403). The Greek original was a prominent creation of the mid 4th century B.C. According to Walther Amelung (Die Sculpturen des Vaticanischen Museums, vol. 2, 1908, p. 431), "no other representation of Dionysos embodies the ardent-enthusiastic nature of the god, his tender but potent appearance more significantly than this particularly pleasant figure.“