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A Roman bronze fragmentary bust of a young man image 1
A Roman bronze fragmentary bust of a young man image 2
A Roman bronze fragmentary bust of a young man image 3
Lot 129

A Roman bronze fragmentary bust of a young man

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

£20,000 - £30,000

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A Roman bronze fragmentary bust of a young man
Circa early 1st Century A.D.
Comprising a head and upper torso, his face with delicate features and large, heavy-lidded, unarticulated eyes, with thick hair falling in comma-shaped locks over his forehead, wearing a chlamys pinned on the left shoulder with a circular fibula and revealing his bare chest, his right arm raised in the commanding gesture of adlocutio, torso 19cm high, head 23cm high

Footnotes

Provenance:
John (1900-1976) and Gertrude Hunt (1903-1997) collection, Dublin.
Private collection, England, acquired from the above between 1976-1981.
Anonymous sale; Bonhams, London, 26 April 2007, lot 118.
Private collection, UK, acquired at the above sale.

This bust displays similarities with early Imperial bronzes, such as the portrait of Caligula in The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (acc. no. 2003.670). The Houston Caligula also has a lean face, rounded chin, cap of layered hair and locks brushed in front of the ears, and therefore suggests that this bust may also be a portrait of a Julio-Claudian prince. Furthermore, the gesture of adlocutio was usually performed by the emperor in a civic or military context, most famously in the Prima Porta statue.

For similar, see a bronze head of a male youth dating to the early 1st Century A.D. at the NY Carlsberg Glyptotek (acc. no. I.N.2758).

Additional information

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