CIRCA 1ST CENTURY B.C.

Details

A LATE HELLENISTIC STATUE OF THE MUSE ERATO
circa 1st century b.c.
The imposing figure standing with her weight on her right leg, the left relaxed and bent at the knee, the foot trailing slightly behind, wearing a peplos with a V-shaped neckline, buttons on the right shoulder, and a series of long, deep fluted folds enveloping the right leg, the garment taut on her left leg, revealing its form beneath, the front of her thick-soled sandaled feet protruding from below the hem, a himation wrapped over her left shoulder and around her waist, forming a horizontal line slightly above the edge of the peplos overfold, the himation gathered in a roll below the breasts, originally depicted supporting a kithara along her left side, her head turned slightly to her right, with a long neck, small chin, and full, slightly-parted lips, the slender nose forming a continuous profile with the forehead, her almond-shaped eyes with heavy upper lids beneath modelled brows, her wavy hair center-parted and bound in a broad band, the hair in back either re-worked in antiquity or originally finished in plaster, her earlobes pierced for attachment of now-missing earrings, standing on a thin, integral plinth
72 in. (183 cm) high

Provenance

European Private Collection
Dr. Elie Borowski

Literature

Welkunst aus Privatbesitz, Köln, 1968, no. A69, fig. 33.

Exhibited

Antikenmuseum Basel und Sammlung Ludwig, Switzerland, 1965.
Welkunst aus Privatbesitz, Kunsthalle Köln, Germany, May-August 1968.
Liebieghaus, Frankfurt, Germany, 1980.
The Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada, 1986.

Special notice

On occasion, Christie’s has a direct financial interest in lots consigned for sale. This interest may include guaranteeing a minimum price to the consignor which is secured solely by consigned property. This is such a lot.

Lot Essay

Erato was the Muse of lyric poetry or hymns, identified by her kithara. According to Hanfmann and Pollard ("Muses" in The Oxford Classical Dictionary, p. 704) the Muses are "among the most lovable and most influential creations;" they are "personifications of the highest intellectual and artistic aspirations..."

Although a work of the Late Hellenistic Period, this fine statue recalls earlier Greek sculpture of the 4th century B.C. Compare, for example, the poses and the drapery of the Muses on the statue base from Mantineia in Arkadia by Praxiteles, circa 330-320 B.C. (Stewart, Greek Sculpture, pl. 493-494). For Erato holding a kithara, standing together with her sisters and Apollo, see the slightly later relief signed by Archelaos of Priene, circa 200-150 B.C. (Stewart, op. cit., pl. 761-762).

More from Antiquities

View All