CIRCA 1ST CENTURY A.D.

Details

A ROMAN MARBLE HEAD OF BACCHUS
CIRCA 1ST CENTURY A.D.
14¼ in. (36.2 cm.) high

Provenance

European private collection, acquired by 1998; thence by descent.
Antiquities, Christie's, New York, 9 December 2008, lot 137.
with Royal-Athena Galleries, New York.
Acquired by the current owner from the above, 2009.

Literature

J. Pollini, "Roman Marble Sculpture" in M. Merrony (ed.), Mougins Museum of Classical Art, France, 2011, p. 102, fig. 56.

Exhibited

Musée d'Art Classique de Mougins, 2011-2023 (Inv. no. MMoCA312).

Conditions of sale

Brought to you by

Claudio Corsi Specialist, Head of Department

ccorsi@christies.com +44 (0) 20 7389 2607

Lot Essay

The young god is depicted with a long oval face, his head turned to his right, the fleshy lips drilled at the corners, the bulging unarticulated eyes with thick lids, a horizontal crease across the forehead. The hair is carved in a mass of thick curls, encircled by a wreath of ivy leaves, the lobe of one ear emerging below.
For another example of Bacchus with a mass of curly hair tied at the top and falling over the neck see J. Raeder, Die statuarische Ausstattung der Villa Hadriana bei Tivoli, Frankfurt, 1983, no. I 73.

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