A ROMAN BRONZE MERCURY

CIRCA 1ST CENTURY A.D.

Details

A ROMAN BRONZE MERCURY
CIRCA 1ST CENTURY A.D.
Based on a late 5th century B.C. original by Polykleitos, the god standing on his straight right leg, his left relaxed and bent at the knee, the heel lifted, wearing his wide-brimmed petasos, the upper surface patterned with stippling, once surmounted by wings, his body nude but for his chlamys pinned at his right shoulder, draped across his chest, falling open along his left shoulder and hanging over his lowered left arm, holding his animal-skin money bag in his right hand, the arm outstretched, the left hand once holding his cadeuceus, his head angled slightly to his right, the hair composed of individual tight curls, the large almond-shaped eyes articulated, the ankles once fitted with wings
6¾ in. (17.1 cm.) high

Provenance

Athos Moretti, Bellizona.
with Pino Donati, Lugano.
with Royal-Athena Galleries, New York, 1990.

Literature

C.C. Vermeule and J.M. Eisenberg, Catalogue of the Greek, Etruscan, and Roman Bronzes in the Collection of John Kluge, New York and Boston, 1992, no. 90-08.

Lot Essay

In the early Roman Period, commerce and trade played an ever growing role in the affairs of the upper middle classes of Roman society. "Along with these interests, symbolic of them, comes the prominence of the god Mercury in his capacity as god of trade (see no. 45, p. 130 in von Bothmer, Wealth of the Ancient World)."

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