A Marble Head of a Greek Poet, probably Hesiod, Roman Imperial, circa 1st century A.D.

also known as the Pseudo-Seneca, after a Greek original of the late 3rd/2nd century B.C., turned to his left and gazing up with an energized and intensely concentrated expression, with unkempt beard and unruly hair radiating form the crown and falling in long locks over the forehead, temples, and nape of the neck.

Norwegian private collection, Oslo, acquired in Rome between 1954 and 1958
by descent to the present owner

Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, Rome, neg. nos. 1954.995-998
Axel Seeberg, "Two Pseudo-Seneca Replicas in Oslo," Symbolae Osloenses, fasc. XXXV, 1959, pp. 98f., figs. 3-5
G.M.A. Richter, Portraits of the Greeks, vol. I, London, 1965, p. 61, no. 38, figs. 204-206
Acta ad archaeologiam et artium pertinentia, vol. I, Oslo, 1962, p. 17, pl. IIIb
Siri Sande, Greek and Roman Portraits in Norwegian Collections, Rome, 1991, no. 6
Arachne. Datenbank und Kulturelle Archive des Forschungsarchiv für Antike Plastik Köln, no. 23905

As shown in photos. Notice damage to nose and elsewhere. Missing proper left earlobe and various other chips and abrasions. Top of head somewhat weathered. Facial surface is in good condition with several remaining areas of incrustation and root-marks. Minor chips, abrasions, and scratches overall. Note that the neck was carved in antiquity for insertion of the head into a herm.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

In his discussion of the bronze head of the Pseudo-Seneca from Herculaneum, now in the Archaeological Museum in Naples, Paul Zanker notes (The Mask of Socrates: The Image of the Intellectual in Antiquity, Berkeley, Calif., 1995, pp. 151-154):

     "This old man is in no way characterized as sick or dispirited. Instead he is filled with a passionate energy. The tension in the forehead and eyebrows suggests extreme concentration, as he searches for just the right word. There is something compelling in his expression as if he just has to express himself, as if something is driving him that is stronger than he is. But who would listen to this unkempt old man, an outsider in polite society?

     [...] this portrait seems to aim at capturing a specific set of biographical datas, at rendering in its particular pathos a specific and unmistakable spiritual physiognomy comprising three elements: manual labor, poverty, a disregard for personal appearance, and a breathless, almost fanatical power of speech. All this seems to point to the peasant-poet Hesiod, who was called to poetry by the Muses while he was tending his goats on Mount Helikon and who lived and, in his verses, described a life of inexorable toil, worry, and disappointment. That later ages did indeed imagine Hesiod as an old man is confirmed by Virgil, who evokes him as "the old man from Ascra" (Ecl. 6.70: Ascreus Senex).

     But I am less concerned here with the identification of the portrait, which must remain a conjecture until an inscribed copy is discovered, than with the boldly rendered `biographical physiognomy' of this old man. One of the great poets of the past is presented with the physiognomic traits of the peasants and fishermen who had always been despised by bourgeois society and had to struggle to eke out a living. This is more than just a retrospective, literary portrait of a poet. Rather, like the Silen's mask of Socrates, and later, the portrait of Chrysippus, it is a polemical statement of the independence of intellectual talent from noble birth or social convention. Even a man who stood on the margins of society, who did not have the benefits of paideia [i.e. a classical education], could become a great poet. And again, a body worn out by toil and privation could still harbor a great spirit. Neither humble birth or manual labor could rob this man of the power of the poetic word."

Photos three and four show lot 42 photographed in 1954 (D-DAI-Rom-1954.0996 and 0997)