A LATE HELLENISTIC OR ROMAN BRONZE CHILD

CIRCA 1ST CENTURY B.C.

Details

A LATE HELLENISTIC OR ROMAN BRONZE CHILD
CIRCA 1ST CENTURY B.C.
Holding a rooster in the crook of his bent left arm, the toes of the bird's right foot held in his open right hand, the youth standing with his weight on his right leg, the left relaxed and slightly advanced, a mantle draped over his left shoulder, pinned at his right and falling in back almost to his ankles, his head angled downward, his hair pulled up in a top-knot, with a central plait across his crown, the rooster with a small comb and wattles, its head turned to its left
5¼ in. (13.3 cm.) high

Provenance

Mrs. Albert D. Lasker, New York; Christie's, London, 12 December 1990, lot 183.
with Royal-Athena Galleries, New York, 1991 (Art of the Ancient World, vol. VI, part 2, no. 24).

Lot Essay

In Classical Greek art, the offering of a rooster was imbued with sexual symbolism often alluding to a homoerotic tryst; see p. 89, no. 43 in Vickers, Ashmolean Museum, Greek Vases. The Eros-like appearance of this youth and his embrace of the cock is to be understood within this tradition.

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