A ROMAN BRONZE SPES

CIRCA 1ST CENTURY A.D.

Details

A ROMAN BRONZE SPES
CIRCA 1ST CENTURY A.D.
Archaistic in style, standing on bare feet with her left leg advanced, clad in a mantle over a chiton, the mantle with a zigzag border and silver-overlaid buttons along the right shoulder, the long chiton adorned with a border of inlaid silver scrolling, her lowered left hand lifting the edge of her skirt, her right arm raised and once holding a flower, a wreath in her hair above two rows of snail curls, her hair flowing in a mass at the back, a few tresses falling along the front of each shoulder
4 1/16 in. (10.3 cm.) high

Provenance

with Royal-Athena Galleries, New York, 1984.
with Old World Galleries, New York.

Literature

C.C. Vermeule and J.M. Eisenberg, Catalogue of the Greek, Etruscan, and Roman Bronzes in the Collection of John Kluge, New York and Boston, 1992, no. 84-2.

Lot Essay

Spes was the personification of Hope whose temple in Rome was located in the Forum Holitorium, the vegetable market. In the early Imperial Period she is portrayed in marble, bronze, and on gems and coinage almost exclusively in this likeness. See nos. 1-27 in Hamdorf, "Spes" in LIMC.

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