A Roman Bronze Figure of Eros Harpocrates, circa 1st Century A.D.

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Auction Closed

July 3, 02:32 PM GMT

Estimate

25,000 - 35,000 GBP

Lot Details

Description

A Roman Bronze Figure of Eros Harpocrates

circa 1st Century A.D.

standing on a circular base with his right leg forward and holding his right index finger to his mouth, a cornucopia cradled in his left arm, and wearing an animal skin falling from his right shoulder, his head turned to his right, the eyes with indented pupils and remains of silver, his curly hair arranged in a top knot and surmounted above the forehead by a diminutive Crown of Upper and Lower Egypt.

Height from modern base 17.5 cm.

Italian private collection, 16th Century (based on the existence of Renaissance copies)

Louis Fould (1794-1858), Paris, acquired at auction in Paris

Ch. Pillet, Paris, Catalogue de la précieuse collection d'objets d'art, d'antiquités et de tableaux de feu M. Louis Fould, June 4th and following days, 1860, no. 1215: https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k168204z/f83.item

Eugène Piot (1812-1890), Paris (Hôtel des commissaires-priseurs, Paris, Collection Eugène Piot. Antiquités, May 27th-30th, 1890, no. 47: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=AyVRAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA15&dq)

acquired by the present owner at auction at Drouot, Paris, in July 1996

Published

Anatole Chabouillet, Description des antiquités et objets d'art composant le cabinet de M. Louis Fould, Paris, 1861, p. 61, no. 1215, pl. 13 (text: https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k56269748/f72.item plate: https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k56269748/f236.item)

Salomon Reinach, Répertoire de la statuaire grecque et romaine, vol. 2, Paris, 1909, p. 482, no. 5, illus. (https://archive.org/details/b29001365_0002/page/482/mode/2up?view=theater)

An Italian Renaissance copy of the present bronze is in the Musée Jacquemart-André in Paris: L. Planiscig, Piccoli bronzi italiani del Rinascimento, 1930, p. 8, pl. 25 (https://database.census.de/detail/52486). Another one is said to be in the Louvre, although it appears to be identical with the Jacquemart-André example: W. Bode, Die italienischen Bronzestatuetten der Renaissance, vol. 2, Berlin, 1907, pl. 111 (https://archive.org/details/gri_33125014991141/page/n92/mode/1up). A third example was in the collection of Robert von Hirsch: Sotheby's, London, The Robert von Hirsch Collection, June 22nd, 1978, no. 348, unillus.