Francesca Hickin
Head of Department
Lot 89*
A Roman marble head of Dionysus
6 July 2021, 15:00 BST
London, New Bond StreetSold for £15,250 inc. premium
Looking for a similar item?
Our Antiquities specialists can help you find a similar item at an auction or via a private sale.
Find your local specialistAsk about this lot
Anna Marston
Associate Specialist
A Roman marble head of Dionysus
Circa 1st-2nd Century A.D.
Of Lykeios type, with wavy hair bound at the nape of the neck in a low chignon and secured with a fillet at the forehead, the face with youthful features, with deeply recessed rimmed almond-shaped eyes and full lips drilled at each corner, the right forearm resting languorously across the top of the head, 18cm high
Circa 1st-2nd Century A.D.
Of Lykeios type, with wavy hair bound at the nape of the neck in a low chignon and secured with a fillet at the forehead, the face with youthful features, with deeply recessed rimmed almond-shaped eyes and full lips drilled at each corner, the right forearm resting languorously across the top of the head, 18cm high
Footnotes
Provenance:
with Dr Jacob Hirsch (1874-1955), Switzerland.
with Dr Roland Maly, Wey Antiquitäten + Numismatik, Lucerne, prior to 1972.
Mr J. Z. (1928-2015) collection, Switzerland, inv. no. 23a, acquired from the above on 3rd December 1972; and thence by descent until March 2020.
Exhibited:
"Kunst und Antiquitätenmesse Basel" (KAM), Switzerland, 1972.
This head depicts the god Dionysus in a restful moment, conveyed by his serene expression and the arm resting nonchalantly across his head. The fact that the arm remains allows us to assume that this would have once been a full standing figure. If classical proportions of the body being approximately 7 times that of the head are applied, it can be deduced that the statue stood at roughly 128cm tall. Reduced-scale statues were especially popular among the Romans and have been found in both domestic and religious contexts and in interior and exterior settings.
The statue to which this head once belonged can be considered to be of the Lykeios type due to the placement of the right arm. This type originated with the Lycean Apollo, a 4th Century B.C. bronze statue attributed to either Praxiteles or Euphranor. The pose of the Lykeios type Apollo was adapted in the Hellenistic and Roman periods for figures of the youthful Dionysus, as seen in the 2nd Century Roman group of Dionysus and satyr in the Chiaramonti Museum, Vatican Museums, Rome (inv. no. 1375). For other examples in the Lykean pose, see the Ludovisi Dionysus in the Palazzo Altemps in Rome (inv. no 8606), and the Bacchus de Versailles in the Louvre, Paris (inv. no MA 622).