LATE REPUBLICAN, CIRCA 1ST CENTURY B.C.

Details

A ROMAN MARBLE MALE PORTRAIT HEAD
LATE REPUBLICAN, CIRCA 1ST CENTURY B.C.
11 in. (28 cm.) high

Provenance

Nicolas Koutoulakis (1910-1996), Paris and Geneva, acquired in 1972; thence by descent to the present owner.

Special notice

This lot has been imported from outside of the UK for sale and placed under the Temporary Admission regime. Import VAT is payable at 5% on the hammer price. VAT at 20% will be added to the buyer’s premium but will not be shown separately on our invoice.

Conditions of sale

Brought to you by

Claudio Corsi Specialist, Head of Department

ccorsi@christies.com +44 (0) 20 7389 2607

Lot Essay

Portraiture during the Roman Republic is characterized by extreme "verism," that is, the sitter is portrayed exactly as he appeared, with no idealizing. Skin texture, blemishes, wrinkles and stark realism were the chosen artistic vocabulary; reflecting the tradition of making a wax death mask which was displayed in the home for veneration of the ancestors. For another portrait of an elderly man with similar hair combed forward now in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum in New York see acc. no. 13.229.4.

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