Lot 123
123
A GREEK TERRACOTTA HEAD OF A GOD OR ATHLETE
PROPERTY FROM A NEW YORK COLLECTION 
A GREEK TERRACOTTA HEAD OF A GOD OR ATHLETE

HELLENISTIC PERIOD, CIRCA 3RD-1ST CENTURY B.C.

Details
A GREEK TERRACOTTA HEAD OF A GOD OR ATHLETE
HELLENISTIC PERIOD, CIRCA 3RD-1ST CENTURY B.C.
Perhaps from Smyrna, once belonging to a standing figure of impressive proportions, the head turned to his left, with a creased forehead, a knitted brow, and a thin nose, the deep-set eyes with articulated pupils, the full lips slightly parted, the hair a mass of short curling locks, preserving traces of polychrome and gilding
5 1/8 in. (13 cm.) high
Provenance
New York Private Collector; Sotheby's, New York, 20-21 November 1975, lot 624.
Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, New York, 23 June 1989, lot 207.
Literature
J.P. Uhlenbrock, The Coroplast's Art, Greek Terracottas of the Hellenistic World, New York, 1990, no. 28.
Exhibited
Princeton, The Art Museum; New Palz, College Art Gallery; and Cambridge, The Arthur M. Sackler Museum, The Coroplast's Art, Greek Terracottas of the Hellenistic World, 22 September 1990 - 28 July 1991.

Lot Essay

For a terracotta head in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, also preserving traces of gilding, from the same mold or patrix, see no. 49 in Vafopoulou-Richardson, Ancient Greek Terracottas. Both heads may depict an athlete or a god, perhaps Herakles or Hermes. The style is associated with the work of the 4th century sculptor Lysippos, especially when compared to the figure of Agias from the Daochos dedication at Delphi, which is thought to be a copy of Lysippos' bronze figure from Pharsalos, Thessaly. For the Oxford head see also no. 6.3.3 in Moreno, et al., Lisippo, L'Arte e La Fortuna.

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