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Lot Essay
According to Greek mythology, Penthesilea – the Queen of the Amazons – led a group of fellow female warriors to Troy to fight against the Greeks. In one version of the story, Penthesilea was killed by Achilles who, at the moment the death blow was struck, immediately fell in love with the warrior queen.
With his body inclined slightly forward and with a sheath and baldric worn diagonally across from his right shoulder, this torso can be recognized as a reduced-scale copy of a Hellenistic original sculpture depicting Achilles supporting Penthesilea’s body in the seconds after her death. The type is modeled on the so-called Pasquino Group (depicting Menelaus with the body of the dead Patroclus) and is today known through several extant replicas, including one discovered at Aphrodisas in 1967/1968 (see p. 98 in K.T. Erim, Aphrodisias: City of Venus Aphrodite). For the type, see nos. 60-67 in E. Berger, “Penthesileia,” LIMC, vol. VII and pp. 79-80 in M. Bieber, The Sculpture of the Hellenistic Age. The drill holes along the chlamys of the present figure indicate that circa 18th century restorations have been removed.
With his body inclined slightly forward and with a sheath and baldric worn diagonally across from his right shoulder, this torso can be recognized as a reduced-scale copy of a Hellenistic original sculpture depicting Achilles supporting Penthesilea’s body in the seconds after her death. The type is modeled on the so-called Pasquino Group (depicting Menelaus with the body of the dead Patroclus) and is today known through several extant replicas, including one discovered at Aphrodisas in 1967/1968 (see p. 98 in K.T. Erim, Aphrodisias: City of Venus Aphrodite). For the type, see nos. 60-67 in E. Berger, “Penthesileia,” LIMC, vol. VII and pp. 79-80 in M. Bieber, The Sculpture of the Hellenistic Age. The drill holes along the chlamys of the present figure indicate that circa 18th century restorations have been removed.