Roman Hercules Statuette
3rd century AD. A bronze figure of Hercules (Greek Herakles) standing nude with lion skin draped over his bent left arm, his club emerging from it, bearded with a radiating crown as headdress; mounted on a custom-made stand. Cf. Visconti, F.A. & Guattani, G.A., Il museo Chiaramonti Milano, 1820; Rolland, H., Bronzes Antiques de Haute Provence, Paris, 1965, item 101, for type. 211 grams total, 11.5cm including stand (4 1/2"). Property of a London gentleman; acquired on the London art market in the 2000s. Provincial work, probably a copy of a Graeco-Roman model; the presence of the radiate crown points to a workshop of the 3rd century AD. The iconography of Hercules with a radiate crown is not unusual: on a medallion from Chios, once in the collection of Beger in Branderburg, Herakles is wearing the same crown, because, according to myth, Alcis (another name of the hero) was often confused with the sun (Visconti-Guattani, 1835, p.315").
Condition Report: Fine condition.
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3rd century AD. A bronze figure of Hercules (Greek Herakles) standing nude with lion skin draped over his bent left arm, his club emerging from it, bearded with a radiating crown as headdress; mounted on a custom-made stand. Cf. Visconti, F.A. & Guattani, G.A., Il museo Chiaramonti Milano, 1820; Rolland, H., Bronzes Antiques de Haute Provence, Paris, 1965, item 101, for type. 211 grams total, 11.5cm including stand (4 1/2"). Property of a London gentleman; acquired on the London art market in the 2000s. Provincial work, probably a copy of a Graeco-Roman model; the presence of the radiate crown points to a workshop of the 3rd century AD. The iconography of Hercules with a radiate crown is not unusual: on a medallion from Chios, once in the collection of Beger in Branderburg, Herakles is wearing the same crown, because, according to myth, Alcis (another name of the hero) was often confused with the sun (Visconti-Guattani, 1835, p.315").
Condition Report: Fine condition.
