Ancient Sculpture and Works of Art
Ancient Sculpture and Works of Art
A ROMAN MARBLE PORTRAIT BUST OF HERMARCHOS OF MYTILENE, CIRCA 1ST CENTURY A.D.
Auction Closed
December 3, 05:06 PM GMT
Estimate
12,000 - 18,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
A ROMAN MARBLE PORTRAIT BUST OF HERMARCHOS OF MYTILENE, CIRCA 1ST CENTURY A.D.
the head turned to his left, with full beard, parted lips, and furrowed brow, a himation slung around the shoulders; nose, left earlobe, left half of left eyebrow, most of hair above forehead, and most of shoulders restored.
Total height with socle 36 cm.; height of head 19 cm.
European private collection, 18th Century (based on restoration techniques and socle)
private collection, Île-de-France, probably acquired in the 1960s/1970s (Drouot, Paris, Millon, Haute époque: Le studiolo d'un amateur, March 13th, 2019, no. 254, illus.)
The head belongs to a portrait type identified by an inscription on a small bronze copy from Herculaneum as the Greek philosopher Hermarchos of Mytilene (circa 340–after 270 B.C.). For the type, which is dated to the mid-3rd Century B.C., see R. von den Hoff, Philosophenporträts des Früh- und Hochhellenismus, 1994, pp. 75ff. A small-scale copy of the same type was sold at Sotheby’s, London, June 13th, 2016, no. 48.