A ROMAN MARBLE TORSO OF NARCISSUS
THE PROPERTY OF A CALIFORNIA PRIVATE COLLECTOR
A ROMAN MARBLE TORSO OF NARCISSUS

CIRCA 1ST CENTURY B.C.

Details
A ROMAN MARBLE TORSO OF NARCISSUS
CIRCA 1ST CENTURY B.C.
The youthful figure standing in contrapposto with his weight on his right leg, leaning to his left, his left shoulder raised with the arm pulled behind and lowered, perhaps originally resting on a pillar, his right arm akimbo with the back of his hand resting on his buttock, his palm outward
18 1/8 in. (46 cm.) high
Provenance
Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, New York, 17 December 1992, lot 96.

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Lot Essay

Narcissus, the son of the river-god Kephisos and the nymph Leiriope, was prophesied a long life by the seer Teiresias, provided that he did not see himself. The youth was famed for his beauty, and many tried in vain to win his love. One rejected lover asked the gods for revenge, and Nemesis fulfilled her wish. While out hunting, Narcissus came to a spring for a drink, and when he saw his reflection in the water, he instantly fell in love with his own image. Unable to pull himself away, he died, either from exhaustion, unrequited love, or drowning. A narcissus flower grew at the spot where he met his death (see Rafn, "Narkissos" in LIMC.)

The sculptural type, thought to be based on a Greek original of the late 5th century B.C. by a follower of Polykleitos, is known from numerous late Hellenistic and Roman copies, including an example at Holkham Hall, Norfolk, no. 171 in Beck, Bol, and Bückling, Polyklet, Der Bildhauer der griechischen Klassik and another in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in reverse, no. 169 in the same publication. The identification of the type as Narcissus has been questioned by some, but can be confirmed by a carnelian ring stone in Copenhagen (no. 54 in Rafn, op. cit.), which shows the youth standing at ease before a flowing spring, the name-sake flower already sprouting from the ground behind him.
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