A ROMAN ROSSO ANTICO HERM BUST OF HERMES
A ROMAN ROSSO ANTICO HERM BUST OF HERMES
A ROMAN ROSSO ANTICO HERM BUST OF HERMES
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A ROMAN ROSSO ANTICO HERM BUST OF HERMES

CIRCA 1ST-2ND CENTURY A.D.

Details
A ROMAN ROSSO ANTICO HERM BUST OF HERMES
CIRCA 1ST-2ND CENTURY A.D.
8 11⁄16 in. (22 cm.) high
Provenance
Keith Lichtenstein (d. 1999), London, 1966.
Francois (1936-2020) and Betty (b. 1945) Catroux, France.
François et Betty Catroux : un écrin méditerranéen, Sotheby's, Paris, 24 February 2022, lot 46.
Literature
David Netto, François Catroux, New York, 2016, p. 169.
A. Hicks, David Hicks, A Life of Design, Rizzoli, New York, 2024, p. 126.

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Lot Essay

The herm bust belonged to Keith Lichtenstein, avid art collector and once owner of the Casserole restaurant in Chelsea. His King's road apartment was designed by David Hicks (1929–1998) in 1966, masterfully mixing antiquities and Roman marbles with contemporary works by artists such as Francis Bacon.

According to A. Cioffarelli (pp. 95-97 in M.L. Anderson and L. Nista, eds., Radiance in Stone: Sculptures in Colored Marble from the Museo Nazionale Romano), rosso antico is a fine grained, highly compacted limestone, ranging in color from a light red to a dark purple, and can include white calcite marks and striations. The stone was quarried in Taenarum, modern day Cape Matapan in the Peloponnese. In Rome, rosso antico was first attested during the late Republic and was used as a decorative adjunct in walls, pavements and architectural ornaments; by the 2nd century, it was employed for decorative sculpture, such as herms, as demonstrated here. For the type, a Roman variation of Alkamenes' Hermes Propylaios from the 5th century B.C., see nos. 42-57b in G. Siebert, "Hermes," LIMC, vol. V.

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