拍品专文
Antinous was the young favorite of the Emperor Hadrian (76-138 A.D.). Ancient sources record that he was born near the provincial city of Bithynion (northwest Turkey) sometime after 110 A.D. In 130 A.D., while travelling in Egypt as part of Hadrian's entourage, Antinous drowned in the Nile, either the result of an accident, intrigue or suicide said to have been committed to counter a prophecy in order to save the Emperor’s life. In his honor, Hadrian founded Antinopolis, a new city on the east bank of the Nile. In addition, Antinous was posthumously venerated, in some places as a god, in others as a hero, throughout the empire, including at the Imperial Villa at Tivoli. His memory was honored in temples, festivals, games, poems and hymns. As in the case of this sculpture, most of the surviving portraits of Antinous must date to the eight years between his own death in 130 A.D. and that of Hadrian in 138 A.D. The large number of surviving statues, busts, reliefs, coins and gems depicting Antinous indicate the popularity of his cult as promoted by Hadrian (see pp. 11-16 in R.R.R. Smith and M. Melfi, Antinous, Boy Made God).
Often Antinous was depicted in the guise of a pre-existing Greco-Roman or Egyptian god, depending on where the image was created. He can be shown as Osiris, as in the example from the Antinoeion at Hadrian’s Villa, now in the Vatican Museums (fig. 156 in T. Opper, Hadrian, Empire and Conflict), as Dionysus, also in the Vatican (fig. 166 in Opper, op. cit.) and as the hunting and agricultural god Aristaios, now in the Louvre (fig. 168 in Opper, op. cit.). In this example, he is identified in the traditional guise of a hunter, wearing a chlamys over his shoulders pinned in place by a circular fibula. His left hand would have likely held a spear. His facial features, although damaged, display evidence of a rounded chin, full lips and thick hair arranged in luscious curls that cover his ears and fall along his neck.
Often Antinous was depicted in the guise of a pre-existing Greco-Roman or Egyptian god, depending on where the image was created. He can be shown as Osiris, as in the example from the Antinoeion at Hadrian’s Villa, now in the Vatican Museums (fig. 156 in T. Opper, Hadrian, Empire and Conflict), as Dionysus, also in the Vatican (fig. 166 in Opper, op. cit.) and as the hunting and agricultural god Aristaios, now in the Louvre (fig. 168 in Opper, op. cit.). In this example, he is identified in the traditional guise of a hunter, wearing a chlamys over his shoulders pinned in place by a circular fibula. His left hand would have likely held a spear. His facial features, although damaged, display evidence of a rounded chin, full lips and thick hair arranged in luscious curls that cover his ears and fall along his neck.