BC/AD Sculpture Ancient to Modern

BC/AD Sculpture Ancient to Modern

View full screen - View 1 of Lot 53. A ROMAN MARBLE FELINE PAW, CIRCA 2ND CENTURY A.D..

A ROMAN MARBLE FELINE PAW, CIRCA 2ND CENTURY A.D.

Lot Closed

July 9, 01:52 PM GMT

Estimate

4,000 - 6,000 GBP

Lot Details

Description

A ROMAN MARBLE FELINE PAW, CIRCA 2ND CENTURY A.D.


from the bottom of a table leg (trapezophoros) in the form of a feline leg merging into the protome of a lion, panther, lynx, or griffin growing out of an acanthus calyx, the extended claws, knotty articulations, and back tendons finely carved and polished on a thin integral base; no restorations.


Height 8.4 cm.; length 9.2 cm.


To view the Shipping Calculator, please click here

the estate of Torunn Gulliksen Ihlemann (1945–2017) and Jens Thygesen (1945–2009), Copenhagen, acquired in the 1970s/80s

Bruun Rasmussen, Denmark, September 20th, 2017, no. 873/117, illus.

For a related example see http://arachne.uni-koeln.de/item/objekt/107870; the author notes that “such artificial creations made out of predator legs and heads growing out of calyxes - lion, lynx or, like here, panther - functioned as supports of three-legged tables. Together with two other identical panther supports, this piece originally carried a round marble table top. Tables of this shape drew on models from the Hellenistic period and were also made in bronze or wood. These heavy and therefore immovable, but also weatherproof pieces of marble furniture stood in gardens or in pillared halls surrounding the gardens. Unlike the movable pieces of wood and bronze, marble tables did not serve as dining tables, but rather for the presentation of special objects.“