Lot Essay
For a similar cuirassed torso, attributed to the emperor Caracalla, cf. C. C. Vermeule, Greek and Roman Sculpture in America, Berkeley, 1981, p. 350, no. 302.
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PROPERTY FROM AN IMPORTANT EUROPEAN COLLECTION
A ROMAN MARBLE TORSO OF AN EMPEROR
CIRCA MID 2ND-EARLY 3RD CENTURY A.D.
Details
A ROMAN MARBLE TORSO OF AN EMPEROR
CIRCA MID 2ND-EARLY 3RD CENTURY A.D.
Standing in contrapposto with the weight on his right leg, his right arm lowered, his left extending outward, wearing a layered attire including, innermost, a wool tunic visible on his thighs and right arm, followed by a leather garment with long straps, each with tasselled ends, then a metal cuirass with naturalistically-modelled musculature, and outermost, a sash bound at the waist and a paludamentum draped over his left shoulder, falling across his back and over his right arm, attached on his right shoulder by a quatrefoil-decorated brooch, the cuirassed breastplate sculpted in shallow relief with facing rampant griffins on the abdomen and an eagle below, a row of tongue-shaped pteryges below, each sculpted in relief, centered by a lion's head, flanked by Corinthian helmets and rosettes on either side, a sceptre(?) with circular top cradled in his right arm
48 in. (122 cm.) high
CIRCA MID 2ND-EARLY 3RD CENTURY A.D.
Standing in contrapposto with the weight on his right leg, his right arm lowered, his left extending outward, wearing a layered attire including, innermost, a wool tunic visible on his thighs and right arm, followed by a leather garment with long straps, each with tasselled ends, then a metal cuirass with naturalistically-modelled musculature, and outermost, a sash bound at the waist and a paludamentum draped over his left shoulder, falling across his back and over his right arm, attached on his right shoulder by a quatrefoil-decorated brooch, the cuirassed breastplate sculpted in shallow relief with facing rampant griffins on the abdomen and an eagle below, a row of tongue-shaped pteryges below, each sculpted in relief, centered by a lion's head, flanked by Corinthian helmets and rosettes on either side, a sceptre(?) with circular top cradled in his right arm
48 in. (122 cm.) high
Provenance
Wright S. Ludington (1900-1991), Montecito, California; acquired in the early 1900s.
The Santa Barbara Museum of Art; bequest by the above in 1993 and deaccessioned in 2000.
The Property of the Santa Barbara Museum of Art; Sotheby's, New York, 14 June 2000, lot 88.
The Santa Barbara Museum of Art; bequest by the above in 1993 and deaccessioned in 2000.
The Property of the Santa Barbara Museum of Art; Sotheby's, New York, 14 June 2000, lot 88.
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