Another Property
A Roman Marble Figure of a Man of Letters, circa 2nd Century A.D., with 18th Century Restorations
Auction Closed
July 3, 02:32 PM GMT
Estimate
20,000 - 30,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
A Roman Marble Figure of a Man of Letters
circa 2nd Century A.D., with 18th Century Restorations
seated on a quadrangular block with his feet crossed and hands in his lap, and wearing sandals and himation falling from his left shoulder, draped around the lower body, and wrapped around his left forearm, a fragmentary scroll in his left hand, his head (ancient but not belonging) with full beard and moustache and short hair composed of crescentic locks, the later inscription ΦΑΙΔΩΝ (Phaedo) engraved on the left side of the block.
Height as restored 50 cm.
European private collection, 18th Century (based on restoration techniques)
private collection, Great Britain, probably acquired prior to 1939
private collection, England, by descent from the above (Bonhams, London, February 7th, 2023, no. 189, illus., as 19th Century)
acquired by the present owner at the above sale
In its scale, style, composition, and workmanship, the present figure is closely related to a seated statuette inscribed in Greek with the name of Plato and known only today through plaster casts (e.g., Akademisches Kunstmuseum, Bonn, Deutschland, inv. no. 515: arachne.dainst.org/entity/2313932). One of the casts was in the collection of the painter Anton R. Mengs (1728-1799): M. Kiderlen, Die Sammlung der Gipsabgüsse von Anton Raphael Mengs in Dresden, 2006, p. 262f., no. 156: https://skd-online-collection.skd.museum/Details/Index/1237040. The head of the lost statuette is also not belonging, and the inscription [Π]ΛΑΤΩΝ on the right side of the seat is also probably a modern addition. It is possible that both figures once formed a pair in an unknown 18th century collection, meant to represent Socrates' disciples Plato and Phaedo in the act of learned conversation. In the 1830s, the statuette of Plato was rumoured to be in England (E. Braun, in Annali dell' Instituto di corrispondenza archeologica, vol. 11, 1839, p. 207:
https://archive.org/details/annalidellinstit11unse/page/206/mode/2up).
The head of the present figure bears some resemblance to the portrait type of Metrodoros (cf. R. v. den Hoff, Philosophenporträts des Früh- und Hochhellenismus, 1994, pls. 6ff.).
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