CIRCA 2ND CENTURY A.D.

Bigio morato is a fine-grained gray marble, varying in degrees of darkness, often accentuated with white steaks composed of large, irregularly shaped crystals. As A. Cioffarelli notes (p. 67 in M.L. Anderson and L. Nista, Radiance in Stone: Sculptures in Colored Marble from the Museo Nazionale Romano), there is very limited documentation as to where the marble was extracted in antiquity, although it was likely sourced from more than one quarry, including locations as varied as the island of Meroe on the Nile, Taenarum in ancient Laconia and numerous sites in Asia Minor. The marble was primarily employed during the 2nd century A.D. and examples fabricated from the material have been found at Hadrian’s Villa, Tivoli, including works composed in the Egyptianizing style, and at the imperial villa of Anzio, most notably the large figures of Zeus and Asklepios now in the Musei Capitolini (for the Asklepios, see no. 136 in B. Holtzmann, “Asklepios,” LIMC, vol. II).

This well-preserved torso of a youth is a particularly fine example of a work constructed from bigio moarto. When it first appeared at auction in 1960, it was described as an Alexandrian work depicting Harpocrates in his silencing posture, raising his right index finger up to his lips (compare the marble figure in Alexandria, no. 5 in T. Tam Tinh, et al., “Harpokrates,” LIMC, vol. IV). The posture is also reminiscent of Cupid, both in depictions of the god stringing his bow, although reversed, as in the sculpture attributed to Lysippus (see nos. 352a-b in A. Hermary, et al., “Eros,” LIMC, vol. III), and in portrayals where he is shown holding a torch to one side with both hands (see a wall painting fragment from Pompeii, no. 151 in Blanc and Gury, “Eros/Amor, Cupido,” LIMC, vol. III). Without further attributes it is impossible to determine who precisely is represented, but either Harpocrates of Cupid are likely.