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A Roman marble portrait head of a man image 1
A Roman marble portrait head of a man image 2
A Roman marble portrait head of a man image 3
A Roman marble portrait head of a man image 4
Lot 156*

A Roman marble portrait head of a man

Antiquities
7 July 2016, 10:30 BST
London, New Bond Street

Sold for £17,500 inc. premium

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A Roman marble portrait head of a man
Julio-Claudian, circa 1st Century A.D.
With thick curling hair falling at the brow and low at the nape of the neck, with sideburns extending to the jawline, the face with strong features including heavily lidded eyes, a prominent chin and nose, 28cm high

Footnotes

Provenance:
Bonhams, 05 October 2011, lot 122.
German private collection, acquired circa 1960.

Literature:
Portraits of Nero demonstrate similar facial features such as the protuberant brow, thick bridge of the nose, dimples at the corners of his lips, prominent chin and heavy neck. However the curling hair indicates that this portrait could date from the early 50s A.D., predating Nero's characteristic brushed forward hair. Coins from 51-54 depict him with 'a full head of tousled hair that is brushed from the crown of his head, low on his forehead. It also grows long on the nape of the neck following the trend established by his Julio-Claudian predecessors.' Cf. D. Kleiner, Roman Sculpture, Yale, 1992, pp. 136-9, figs. 111-3.

For a related classicising portrait of a Julio-Claudian prince with smooth facial features, similar flowing hair, longer at the back and with sideburns, cf. a portrait identified as Germanicus at the Musée du Louvre, Ma 3135.

Additional information

Bid now on these items

An Anatolian marble idol
A Mesopotamian clay cuneiform foundation cone with dedication inscription of King Lipit-Ishtar of Isin
A small Mesopotamian clay cuneiform foundation cone inscribed for King Sin-Kashid of Uruk
A Neo-Assyrian or Neo-Hittite bronze helmet with pelta-shaped cheek-pieces
A Babylonian agate "eye-stone" bead, inscribed for Nebuchadnezzar II
A large Etruscan Impasto Ware pottery olla
A Roman marble torso of a youth wearing a tunic
A Roman marble head of a satyr
An Attic pottery tankard with geometric decoration
A Greek bronze horse
A Greek pottery alabastron in the form of a greaved leg
A Greek green glazed faience hedgehog aryballos
A Greek bronze hydria with siren handle-plate
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