A ROMAN MARBLE DRAPED FEMALE
PROPERTY FROM A NEW YORK PRIVATE COLLECTION
A ROMAN MARBLE DRAPED FEMALE

CIRCA 1ST-2ND CENTURY A.D.

Details
A ROMAN MARBLE DRAPED FEMALE
CIRCA 1ST-2ND CENTURY A.D.
Standing with her feet flat on an integral plinth, her weight on her left leg, her right leg bent at the knee and slightly advanced, wearing a finely pleated chiton with open buttoned sleeves, bound with a round cord tied in a Herakles' knot beneath her breasts, the cascading ends looped back and tucked in, a himation wrapped around her waist and draped over her left arm, her left hand on her hip; together with 18th century additions, including the head, her hair swept back in a chignon and wreathed with roses, a right forearm, and a rectangular pillar
58 in. (147.3 cm.) high
Provenance
The Property of the Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry, K.T., formerly at Dalkeith Palace, Edinburgh; Christie's, London, 18 October 2005, lot 105.

If you wish to view the condition report of this lot, please sign in to your account.

Sign in
View condition report

Lot Essay

It has been suggested that this sculpture may have been acquired by Henry Scott, 3rd Duke of Buccleuch, 5th Duke of Queensberry (1746-1812), while touring on the continent between 1764-1766 with his tutor, Adam Smith.

Ann, Duchess of Buccleuch (1651-1732) and widow of the Duke of Monmouth, remodeled the old castle of Dalkeith at the beginning of the 18th Century, and it remains today with little change. It continued to be occupied as a family residence until early in the 20th Century, with guests including George IV, William IV, Queen Victoria and Edward VII.

The pose of the present statue with the left arm akimbo and the feet flat on the ground and slightly splayed, together with the treatment of the drapery of the himation, is identical to statues of a Nymph or Goddess of Venus Marina type, known from nearly thirty examples, including six from Ostia. The type is thought to be based on a Greek original of the fourth century B.C., but there is no agreement among scholars as to who the sculptor might have been. For an example in the Lever Collection see no. 2, pl. 2 in Waywell, The Lever and Hope Sculptures. The present example differs from the Venus Marina type only by the addition of a chiton.

More from Antiquities

View All
View All