.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
This impressive head of the young god is depicted slightly turned and tilted to the left, the torsion causing fleshy folds, or so-called “Venus rings,” along his neck. He has a smooth oval face with a slightly dimpled chin. The lips of his bow-shaped mouth are parted, and there are subtle naso-labial contours extending outwards below the small, rounded nose. The large hollowed eyes, once inlaid, have thick upper lids beneath gently-arching brows. The elaborate hairstyle consists of a partial melon-coiffure, with parted braids pulled back over the crown of the head and tied together by a string at the back, the long serpentine ends of the string hanging below, the tip of the braids now lost. A short curved lock escapes the braids and falls onto the forehead above each eye. There are longer locks on the cheeks in front of the ears, and masses of overlapping curls at the sides and back of the head.
One of the characteristics of art made during the Hellenistic period was an emphasis on the various states of the human experience. Thus, for the first time in Greek art, we have accurate depictions of people ranging from childhood to old age, as well as unorthodox images of grotesques or of people from beyond the Greek world, such as Africans. Depictions of young children during this period often have braids pulled back over the top of the head, be they mythological, allegorical or genre, without being gender specific. Eros was one of the most popular subjects during this period, and the many types developed by the Greeks continued to appeal to the Romans, when copies and interpretations of these earlier works abounded.
Eros was the god of love in Greek mythology, always associated in some fashion with the goddess Aphrodite. As to his origins, the ancient sources are mixed, with some saying that he was the offspring of the Aphrodite and Ares, but others indicating that he was the child of two lesser deities, Poros and Penia, conceived at the feast celebrating Aphrodite’s birth (see C. Kondolean, “Eros, Child of Aphrodite,” pp. 108- 147 in Kondolean and P. Segal, eds., Aphrodite and The Gods of Love). He had cults in numerous cities in Greece, including one on the north slope of the Athenian Acropolis that he shared with Aphrodite, and another at Thespiae in Boeotia, where he was represented by an aniconic image.
In addition to the aniconic image, Thespiae was home to two of the most famous depictions of Eros. One by the sculptor Praxiteles (395-330 B.C.) was a large bronze statue that, according to Pliny, was taken to Rome by the 1st century A.D. While the original does not survive, it is thought by some to be the Eros of Centocelle type, which depicts the god as a young man (see A. Corso, “Love as Suffering: The Eros of Thespiae of Praxiteles,” in Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies, vol. 42, pp. 63-91). The other was a younger version of the god by Lysippos (390-300 B.C.), also in bronze, depicting him stringing his bow, known from numerous Roman marble copies (see pp. 111-129 in P. Moreno, Lisippo, L’Arte e La Fortuna).
Perhaps influenced by the fame of Lysippos’ Eros, cherubic depictions of the god became the dominant type throughout the Hellenistic period and into the Roman Imperial era, sometimes as a singular standing figure, but also frequently in groups, either as a supporting figure with Aphrodite, paired with Psyche, or in multiples. The head of Eros from a group statue with Psyche in the Uffizi is a particularly compelling comparison to the bronze head presented here (see pl. 54 in G. A. Mansuelli, Galleria degli Uffizi. Le Sculture. Parte I, Rome, 1958, p.90, no. 58). Both have the elaborate braid over the top of the head with unruly curls at the sides and back. If indeed this bronze head was from a Eros and Psyche group, it may be that her hand connected to the tip of his braid, now lost, whereas on the marble version, Psyche’s hand was by necessity connected to the back of his head.
Here, the fine quality of the casting with the incredible details to the individual locks of hair and the subtle modelling of the facial features confirm that this head should be assigned to the late Hellenistic period rather than to a later Roman workshop. Another work that supports the late Hellenistic date is the bronze figure of a boy found in a ship wreck at Cap d’Agde, now in the Musée de l’Éphèbe et d’Archèologie sous-marine (p. 434 in C. Grandjean, et al., La Grèce Hellénistique et Romaine). The child is aged 6 or 7 years, and is depicted standing, wearing a tunic and sandals, and has his hair arranged in similar fashion to the Eros presented here but for an additional band of cloth over the braids that is embellished with Zeus’ thunderbolt. This has led some scholars to view this as a portrait of Ptolemy XV Caesarion, the son of Cleopatra VII and Julius Caesar, born on the 23rd of June in 47 B.C. Following the murder of Caesar, and later, Octavian’s defeat of Cleopatra and Mark Antony, Rome’s first emperor had Caesarion executed in 29 B.C., declaring “Too many Caesars is not good” (see D. Braund et al, Myth, history and culture in republican Rome: studies in honour of T.P. Wiseman, p. 305). The figure of Caesarion must have been made during his lifetime in a Hellenistic workshop in Egypt, perhaps Alexandria, and thus, since it is so similar in style to the head of Eros, supplying a terminus ante quem for its creation.
Sydney J. Lamon was a New York City financier and diamond merchant, avid collector, and patron of the arts, with a passion for continental porcelain, gold boxes and objects d'art. The celebrated Lamon collection was dispersed through various Christie's sales in London, between 1973-1975. In a New York Times write-up on 3rd December 1973, after one of the sales, it was reported that: "Among the items was a pair of Chantilly porcelain Louis XV ormolu eastern figures that fetched more than $190,000. The figures were sold at Christie's for little more than $4,000 in 1938...Impressionist paintings from the collection, which Mr. Lamon had assembled in his Fifth Avenue apartment, will be auctioned this week. So far items from the collection disposed of since the first sale was held in June have realized more than $4‐million". The bronze head of Eros was one of only a handful of antiquities in his collection, which also included a splendid Roman marble figure of Mercury, sold in these rooms in July 2023. He was married to German-American novelist Heidi Loewengard (1914-1981), who wrote under the pen-names Martha Albrand, Katrin Holland and Christine Lambert.
One of the characteristics of art made during the Hellenistic period was an emphasis on the various states of the human experience. Thus, for the first time in Greek art, we have accurate depictions of people ranging from childhood to old age, as well as unorthodox images of grotesques or of people from beyond the Greek world, such as Africans. Depictions of young children during this period often have braids pulled back over the top of the head, be they mythological, allegorical or genre, without being gender specific. Eros was one of the most popular subjects during this period, and the many types developed by the Greeks continued to appeal to the Romans, when copies and interpretations of these earlier works abounded.
Eros was the god of love in Greek mythology, always associated in some fashion with the goddess Aphrodite. As to his origins, the ancient sources are mixed, with some saying that he was the offspring of the Aphrodite and Ares, but others indicating that he was the child of two lesser deities, Poros and Penia, conceived at the feast celebrating Aphrodite’s birth (see C. Kondolean, “Eros, Child of Aphrodite,” pp. 108- 147 in Kondolean and P. Segal, eds., Aphrodite and The Gods of Love). He had cults in numerous cities in Greece, including one on the north slope of the Athenian Acropolis that he shared with Aphrodite, and another at Thespiae in Boeotia, where he was represented by an aniconic image.
In addition to the aniconic image, Thespiae was home to two of the most famous depictions of Eros. One by the sculptor Praxiteles (395-330 B.C.) was a large bronze statue that, according to Pliny, was taken to Rome by the 1st century A.D. While the original does not survive, it is thought by some to be the Eros of Centocelle type, which depicts the god as a young man (see A. Corso, “Love as Suffering: The Eros of Thespiae of Praxiteles,” in Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies, vol. 42, pp. 63-91). The other was a younger version of the god by Lysippos (390-300 B.C.), also in bronze, depicting him stringing his bow, known from numerous Roman marble copies (see pp. 111-129 in P. Moreno, Lisippo, L’Arte e La Fortuna).
Perhaps influenced by the fame of Lysippos’ Eros, cherubic depictions of the god became the dominant type throughout the Hellenistic period and into the Roman Imperial era, sometimes as a singular standing figure, but also frequently in groups, either as a supporting figure with Aphrodite, paired with Psyche, or in multiples. The head of Eros from a group statue with Psyche in the Uffizi is a particularly compelling comparison to the bronze head presented here (see pl. 54 in G. A. Mansuelli, Galleria degli Uffizi. Le Sculture. Parte I, Rome, 1958, p.90, no. 58). Both have the elaborate braid over the top of the head with unruly curls at the sides and back. If indeed this bronze head was from a Eros and Psyche group, it may be that her hand connected to the tip of his braid, now lost, whereas on the marble version, Psyche’s hand was by necessity connected to the back of his head.
Here, the fine quality of the casting with the incredible details to the individual locks of hair and the subtle modelling of the facial features confirm that this head should be assigned to the late Hellenistic period rather than to a later Roman workshop. Another work that supports the late Hellenistic date is the bronze figure of a boy found in a ship wreck at Cap d’Agde, now in the Musée de l’Éphèbe et d’Archèologie sous-marine (p. 434 in C. Grandjean, et al., La Grèce Hellénistique et Romaine). The child is aged 6 or 7 years, and is depicted standing, wearing a tunic and sandals, and has his hair arranged in similar fashion to the Eros presented here but for an additional band of cloth over the braids that is embellished with Zeus’ thunderbolt. This has led some scholars to view this as a portrait of Ptolemy XV Caesarion, the son of Cleopatra VII and Julius Caesar, born on the 23rd of June in 47 B.C. Following the murder of Caesar, and later, Octavian’s defeat of Cleopatra and Mark Antony, Rome’s first emperor had Caesarion executed in 29 B.C., declaring “Too many Caesars is not good” (see D. Braund et al, Myth, history and culture in republican Rome: studies in honour of T.P. Wiseman, p. 305). The figure of Caesarion must have been made during his lifetime in a Hellenistic workshop in Egypt, perhaps Alexandria, and thus, since it is so similar in style to the head of Eros, supplying a terminus ante quem for its creation.
Sydney J. Lamon was a New York City financier and diamond merchant, avid collector, and patron of the arts, with a passion for continental porcelain, gold boxes and objects d'art. The celebrated Lamon collection was dispersed through various Christie's sales in London, between 1973-1975. In a New York Times write-up on 3rd December 1973, after one of the sales, it was reported that: "Among the items was a pair of Chantilly porcelain Louis XV ormolu eastern figures that fetched more than $190,000. The figures were sold at Christie's for little more than $4,000 in 1938...Impressionist paintings from the collection, which Mr. Lamon had assembled in his Fifth Avenue apartment, will be auctioned this week. So far items from the collection disposed of since the first sale was held in June have realized more than $4‐million". The bronze head of Eros was one of only a handful of antiquities in his collection, which also included a splendid Roman marble figure of Mercury, sold in these rooms in July 2023. He was married to German-American novelist Heidi Loewengard (1914-1981), who wrote under the pen-names Martha Albrand, Katrin Holland and Christine Lambert.