CIRCA 2ND CENTURY A.D.

Details

A ROMAN BRONZE APIS BULL
CIRCA 2ND CENTURY A.D.
6 1/8 in. (15.6 cm.) long

Provenance

Captain E.G. Spencer-Churchill (1876-1964), Northwick Park, Blockley, Gloucestershire, acquired in Rome 1913.
Antiquities from the Northwick Park Collection, the property of the late Captain E.G. Spencer-Churchill; Christie's, London, 21-23 June 1965, lot 533.
Henri Smeets collection, Weert, the Netherlands.
The Smeets Collection of Antiquities; Sotheby's, London, 7 November 1977, lot 158.
Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, London, 14 December 1981, lot 387.
Private collection, Australia.

Exhibited

Leiden, Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, Klassieke Kunst uit Particulier Bezit, 15 May-13 July 1975.

Special notice

These lots have been imported from outside the EU for sale using a Temporary Import regime. Import VAT is payable (at 5%) on the Hammer price. VAT is also payable (at 20%) on the buyer’s Premium on a VAT inclusive basis. When a buyer of such a lot has registered an EU address but wishes to export the lot or complete the import into another EU country, he must advise Christie's immediately after the auction.

Brought to you by

Beatrice Campi

bcampi@christies.com +44 (0)20 3219 6159

Lot Essay

PUBLISHED:
E. Godet (et al), A Private Collection. A Catalogue of The Henri Smeets Collection, Weert, 1975, no. 239a.
H. Brunsting (ed.), Klassieke Kunst uit Particulier Bezit (exhibition cat.), Leiden, 1975, p. 93, no. 135.

Cf. a Roman marble altar dating to the 2nd century A.D. dedicated to the Egyptian gods, currently in the British Museum (acc. no. 1805,0703.212). As with the present lot, the Apis bull is shown without the sun-disc crown, which is almost omnipresent when the sacred beast is depicted in Egyptian art, but with the crescent moon on his flank, an attribute which sufficed to identify him to the Roman viewer. Indeed, Townley described the British Museum altar as 'ornamented on the four sides with Egyptian figures, composed in the Roman style of art’ (TY 12/3).

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