Ancient Sculpture and Works of Art Part I

Ancient Sculpture and Works of Art Part I

View full screen - View 1 of Lot 64. A Roman Marble Portrait Head of a Man, Reign of Antoninus Pius, mid 2nd Century A.D..

Property from a Belgian Private Collection

A Roman Marble Portrait Head of a Man, Reign of Antoninus Pius, mid 2nd Century A.D.

VAT reduced rate

Auction Closed

December 7, 04:32 PM GMT

Estimate

50,000 - 70,000 GBP

Lot Details

Description

Property from a Belgian Private Collection

A Roman Marble Portrait Head of a Man

Reign of Antoninus Pius, mid 2nd Century A.D.


with full beard, moustache, and eyes with incised irises and drilled pupils, his unruly curly hair falling in two confronted crescentic locks over the high forehead, a recessed area with flat surface and dowel hole on the back; no restorations.

Height 29 cm.

Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, March 13th, 1952, no. 69. illus.

Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, November 19th, 1957, no. 187, illus.

Gustaaf Vanderhaegen, Ghent, acquired at the above sale

by descent to the present owner 


Published

Sotheby's, London, July 9th, 2020, no. 49, illus. (prior to cleaning)

The curls falling over the forehead are quoting portraits of emperor Antoninus Pius (see for example a bust in Rome: http://arachne.uni-koeln.de/item/objekt/30023). For another private portrait head imitating the likeness of Antoninus Pius see Replica Shoes ’s, London, June 12th, 2017, no. 51 (now in the J. Paul Getty Museum, inv. 2018.31: http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/328668).


For other Roman portraits with surfaces prepared for attachment of separately carved sections see M. Hirst and G. Salapata, Bulletin antieke beschaving, vol. 79, 2004, pp. 143ff.

Gustaaf Vanderhaegen acquired another Roman marble portrait head of a man in the 1957 Brussels sale. It was sold at Replica Shoes ’s, New York, June 12th, 2003, no. 53 and is now in a distinguished New York private collection. In 1957, both heads were mounted on similar wood bases.

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