Property from a Belgian Private Collection
A ROMAN MARBLE PORTRAIT HEAD OF A MAN, REIGN OF ANTONINUS PIUS, MID 2ND CENTURY A.D.
Lot Closed
July 9, 01:48 PM GMT
Estimate
60,000 - 90,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
Property from a Belgian Private Collection
A ROMAN MARBLE PORTRAIT HEAD OF A MAN, REIGN OF ANTONINUS PIUS, MID 2ND CENTURY A.D.
with full beard, moustache, and eyes with incised irises and drilled pupils, his unruly curly hair falling in two confronted crescentic locks over the high forehead, a recessed area with flat surface and dowel hole on the back; no restorations.
Height 29 cm.
Please note: Condition 11 of the Conditions of Business for Buyers (Online Only) is not applicable to this lot.
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Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, March 13th, 1952, no. 69. illus.
Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, November 19th, 1957, no. 187, illus.
Gustaaf Vanderhaegen, Ghent, acquired at the above sale
by descent to the present owner
The curls falling over the forehead are “quoting” portraits of emperor Antoninus Pius (see for example a bust in Rome: http://arachne.uni-koeln.de/item/objekt/30023). For another private portrait head imitating the likeness of Antoninus Pius see Sotheby’s, London, June 12th, 2017, no. 51 (now in the J. Paul Getty Museum, inv. 2018.31: https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/328668/unknown-maker-portrait-bust-of-a-man-roman-ad-140-160/)
For other Roman portraits with surfaces prepared for attachment of separately carved sections see M. Hirst and G. Salapata, Bulletin antieke beschaving, vol. 79, 2004, pp. 143ff.
Gustaaf Vanderhaegen acquired another Roman marble portrait head of a man in the 1957 Brussels sale. It was sold at Sotheby’s, New York, June 12th, 2003, no. 53. In 1957, both heads were mounted on similar wood bases.