A ROMAN MARBLE CROUCHING FIGURE OF SILENUS, CIRCA 2ND CENTURY A.D.
Auction Closed
July 2, 04:42 PM GMT
Estimate
15,000 - 20,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
A ROMAN MARBLE CROUCHING FIGURE OF SILENUS, CIRCA 2ND CENTURY A.D.
the plump figure seated with both knees drawn up and raising a kantharos to his mouth with both hands, dressed in a fleece bodysuit, and draped in a panther’s skin, a thick fillet passing over the forehead, a large mortise on the back of the head, a broad channel running down the spine; no restorations.
Height 40 cm.
Thomas Herbert, 8th Earl of Pembroke, 1656-1733, Wilton House, Wiltshire
Sidney Charles, 16th Earl of Pembroke, 1906-1969, Wilton House, by descent (Christie's, London, April 28th, 1964, no. 82, illus.)
estate of James Elmo Williams (1913-2015), Brookings, Oregon
acquired by the present owner on the US art market
Published
Richard Cowdry, A description of the pictures, statues, busto’s, basso-relievo’s, and other curiosities at the Earl of Pembroke’s house at Wilton, London, 1751, p. 31 (https://archive.org/details/picturesstatues00kenn/page/31)
James Kennedy, A description of the antiquities and curiosities in Wilton House, Salisbury, 1758, p. 36 (https://archive.org/details/newdescriptionof00kenn/page/36)
George Richardson, Aedes Pembrochianae, London, 1774, p. 34
Comte de Clarac, Musée de sculpture antique et moderne, vol. 4, Paris, 1850, p. 277, no. 1755d, pl. 730a (https://arachne.uni-koeln.de/stichimages/clarac/web/clarac4137.gif)
Salomon Reinach, Répertoire de la statuaire grecque et romaine, vol. 1, Paris, 1897, p. 419, no. 3
Adolf Michaelis, Ancient Marbles in Great Britain, Cambridge, 1882, p. 686, no. 62 (https://archive.org/details/ancientmarblesin00michuoft/page/686)
Georges Dontas, "Anaskaphē oikopedou angelopoulou," Archaiologikon Deltion, vol. 17 A, 1961/62, p. 94
Luca Di Franco, Capreensia disiecta membra. Augusto a Capri e la villa di Palazzo a Mare, Rome, 2015, p. 106
A well-preserved replica was found in Athens: Dontas, op. cit., p. 94, pl. 39; H. Wrede, Römische Mitteilungen, vol. 98, 1991, p. 171, pl. 42,1. A fragment of another replica was found on Capri: Di Franco, op. cit., pp. 105ff., no. B4. The original could have been a creation of the early Hellenistic period.
There are several similar terracotta figures: F. Winter, Die Typen der figürlichen Terrakotten, vol. 2, 1903, p. 393, nos. 1-5; C. Grandjouan, The Athenian Agora, vol. 6, 1961, p. 77, no. 1004, pl. 28. Also cf. a terracotta mould: http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/7504/unknown-maker-mold-of-crouching-silenus-greek-south-italian-tarantine-late-4th-century-bc/.
For the fleece bodysuit cf. a statue of a Silenus in Berlin: http://arachne.uni-koeln.de/item/objekt/106145.