CIRCA 1ST CENTURY A.D.

Details

A ROMAN MARBLE AESCULAPIUS
CIRCA 1ST CENTURY A.D.
The healing god standing with his weight on his right leg, his left relaxed and bent at the knee, wearing a mantle over his left shoulder, gathered at his waist and folded over, the drapery cascading down along his left side, its weighted corner centered on his thigh, the deep U-shaped folds taught on his right leg, fanning from the right ankle, with deeper folds between the legs, his right arm originally akimbo, his hand preserved on his hip with the first two fingers extended, his left arm angled down and possibly once resting on his snake-entwined staff, a mortise in the neck for the separately-made and now-missing head
20 in. (50.1 cm.) high

Provenance

Private Collection, France.
with La Maison Francaise Antiques, Los Angeles, 1983.

Brought to you by

Molly Morse Limmer

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MLimmer@christies.com Tel: +1 212 636 2246

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Lot Essay

Despite the absence of the head and snake-entwined staff, we can assume based on the style that the subject is Aesculapius. All of the many surviving variations of the standing figure of the god, known from reliefs, freestanding sculpture, gems and coins, share some common elements. Particularly typical is the treatment of the mantle, which drapes across the body horizontally and envelopes the legs in very few folds treated in large smooth expanses. Just such a mantle is found on this sculpture. For the type see nos. 328ff. in Holtzmann, "Asklepios," LIMC.

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