AFTER THE ANTIQUE, LATE 19TH/EARLY 20TH CENTURY

The present sculpture is loosely modelled after one dated circa the 2nd century discovered on the Caelian Hill in Rome in 1732. The position of the arms and hands reveals the figure is making the gesture of a knucklebones game (also known as 'Jacks'). In 1742 the Caelian Hill sculpture of the so-called Knucklebones Player was bought by Frederick II for his residence Sanssouci and it is currently part of the collection of the Pergamonmuseum (inv.no: Sk 494/R 7) in the Atles Museum. Like many Roman marbles, the Knucklebones Player is a copy after a lost sculpture from the Hellenistic period.