An Italian rosso antico marble retour d'egypte figure of Antinous after the antique sculpture from Hadrian's villa, Rome first quarter 19th century

This Egyptian figure is very similar to two in the Victoria & Albert Museum, bequeathed by the Seventh Duke of  Welington, reproduced here in fig. 1(A.4& 5-1974). They are adaptations of a first century A.D. Roman marble of the Emperor Hadrian's favourite, Antinous, shown in Egyptian dress which was acquired for the Papal collections following excavation at Hadrian's Villa. Although, Winckelmann, the leading neo-classical theorist and writer on antique sculpture recognised the Antinous as Roman, it was seen by contempories as Egyptian and much reproduced from the 1790's in many different materials. It became particularly popular following Napoleon's Egyptian campaign.