A Roman terracotta "Campana" relief
Circa 1st Century B.C. - 1st Century A.D.
Moulded with a naked kneeling figure of winged Victory, with loose drapery flowing over the right side of the body, wearing sandals, her hair dressed in a fillet, holding a knife aloft in her right hand, and grasping the muzzle a recumbent bull's head in her left, baring its throat for a victory sacrifice, in the left corner stands a sacrificial altar laden with offerings, the band of architrave above decorated with palmettes and swags, 18 x 153/4in. (45.7 x 40cm.) wide, repaired with a little restoration, framed
Circa 1st Century B.C. - 1st Century A.D.
Moulded with a naked kneeling figure of winged Victory, with loose drapery flowing over the right side of the body, wearing sandals, her hair dressed in a fillet, holding a knife aloft in her right hand, and grasping the muzzle a recumbent bull's head in her left, baring its throat for a victory sacrifice, in the left corner stands a sacrificial altar laden with offerings, the band of architrave above decorated with palmettes and swags, 18 x 153/4in. (45.7 x 40cm.) wide, repaired with a little restoration, framed
Sold for
£26,400
inc. premium
Footnotes
- Provenance:
Formerly in the private collection of an ecclesiastic gentleman in Ipswich. It is believed that he was a collector during the 'Grand Tour' period and acquired this circa 1928. It was acquired by the current owner five years ago from the house sale of this collector.
Literature:
This piece belongs to a group of reliefs which are named after Giorgio Campana who first published similar examples in the mid-nineteenth century. Plaques of this type were used to decorate the upper walls of porticoes and shrines, and occasionally private houses. The iconography of Victory sacrificing a bull appears in a number of similar reliefs and is symbolic of a celebration of military victory. Cf. R.A. Higgins, Catalogue of Terracottas in the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities in the British Museum, (London 1954), Terracotta D569-573.
Category: Antiquities
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