A ROMAN BRONZE CIVIC GOD or GENIUS

CIRCA 2ND CENTURY A.D.

Details

A ROMAN BRONZE CIVIC GOD or GENIUS
CIRCA 2ND CENTURY A.D.
The muscular figure depicted standing with his weight on his left leg, his right relaxed and bent at the knee, with a mantle draped around his waist and over his left arm, his left leg largely exposed, the fabric gathered in a twisted roll along its upper edge, holding a cornucopia and a palm branch in his left hand, a phiale in his extended right, his head turned sharply to his right, wearing a mural crown, his upswept hair and facial features recalling depictions of Alexander the Great, his eyes inlaid in silver
9½ in. (24.1 cm.) high

Provenance

with Royal-Athena Galleries, New York, 1988 (The Age of Cleopatra, no. 72).

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. 88-51.
S.B. Matheson, et al., An Obsession with Fortune, Tyche in Greek and Roman Art, New Haven, 1994, p.28, no. 13.
J.J. Herrmann, "From Olympus to the Underworld, Ancient Bronzes from the John W. Kluge Collection," Minerva, vol. 7, no. 2, 1996, fig. 13.

Exhibited

An Obsession with Fortune, Tyche in Greek and Roman Art, New Haven, Yale University Art Gallery, 1 September - 31 December 1994.
From Olympus to the Underworld, Ancient Bronzes from the John W. Kluge Collection, Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, 26 March - 23 June 1996.

Sale room notice

Additional provenance:
James Coats Collection.

Additional exhibition history:
Yale University Art Gallery, on loan mid 1970s.

Lot Essay

Herrmann informs (op. cit., p. 42) that "the Genius was an ancient Latin protective deity, embodying the spiritual and magical force of a person, a place, or organization. This particular type of genius was popular in the third century A.D., especially as a protector of places and military units often on or close to the frontiers." Further, "the high quality of the piece, evident particularly in the Alexander-like head but also in the handsome, well-proportioned, well-balanced anatomy, makes it likely that this is one of the earliest surviving representatives of the type."
Matheson (op. cit., p. 28) suggests that this figure represents Aristaios, the mythological founder of Cyrene in North Africa, renowned for his discovery of honey and olive oil. However, his attribute, according to Cook ("Aristaios I" in LIMC, p. 607), in addition to the mural crown, is a stick with a snake entwined, not employed here.
The identification of the city for which this genius was the protector is uncertain, but the Alexander-like head does suggest a connection with Alexandria in Egypt or another of the cities of the Roman East associated with him.

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