Skip to main content

This auction has ended. View lot details

You may also be interested in

Own a similar item?

Submit your item online for a free auction estimate.

Lot 117*

A large Greek terracotta figure of Eros

3 July 2019, 10:00 BST
London, New Bond Street

£10,000 - £15,000

Own a similar item?

Submit your item online for a free auction estimate.

How to sell

Looking for a similar item?

Our Antiquities specialists can help you find a similar item at an auction or via a private sale.

Find your local specialist

Ask about this lot

A large Greek terracotta figure of Eros
Hellenistic Period, circa 3rd Century B.C.
Of hollow form, depicted nude but for a chlamys over his left shoulder, revealing his fleshy form, his arms outstretched, the right leg advanced, his head turned to his left, hair bound in a central plait on his crown with tendrils behind his ears, his full face with dimpled chin and cheeks, 44.8cm high

Footnotes

Provenance:
with Royal-Athena Galleries, New York, 1985 (AAW, vol. IV, no. 148).
Private collection, New York.
The Property of an Upstate New York Collection; Christie's, New York, 4 June 2008, lot 219.
Private collection, UK, acquired at the above sale.

The depiction of Eros hovering in the air with childlike mannerisms is first found in frescoes of the 4th Century B.C., but only in the Hellenistic period does this pose translate to sculpture. The present lot is very close to a flying Eros in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, see M. Bieber, The Sculpture of the Hellenistic Age, New York, 1961, fig. 612.

Additional information

Bid now on these items

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

An Attic pottery tankard with geometric decoration

A Greek pottery alabastron in the form of a greaved leg

A Greek terracotta female figure with a bird perched on her shoulder