1ST CENTURY B.C./A.D., A ROMAN COPY AFTER A GREEK ORIGINAL OF CIRCA 430-420 B.C.

Details

A ROMAN ARCHAISTIC MARBLE HERM OF THE HERMES PROPYLAIOS
1ST CENTURY B.C./A.D., A ROMAN COPY AFTER A GREEK ORIGINAL OF CIRCA 430-420 B.C.
The god with archaic style flowing beard and hair, the hair arranged in three rows of tight curls over the brow, wearing a fillet, on an integral rectangular base, mounted
21 in. (53 cm.) high

Provenance

European collection, formed 1930s onwards.

Special notice

VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price and at 15% on the buyer's premium

Lot Essay

Cf. A. Stewart, Greek Sculpture, Yale, 1990, pp. 267-8, pl. 400 for a similar herm from Pergamon, a Roman copy of the Hermes Propylaios (trans. "Before the Gate") by the Greek sculptor, Alkamenes of Athens, of circa 430-420 B.C. It is thought that the original sculpture may have been set up at the approach to the Athenian Akropolis, being an age-old guardian of thresholds and houses, and a guarantor of prosperity. "The archaistic style ... imparted an aura of ancient sanctity appropriate to the guardians of an entrance dating to Mycenaean times and now monumentalized by the new Periklean Propylaea".

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