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Torso of a young god or athlete
Roman
Imperial Period
1st century A.D.
Medium/Technique
Marble from Mt. Pentelikon near Athens
Dimensions
Height: 40.5 cm (15 15/16 in.)
Credit Line
Bequest of Benjamin Rowland, Jr.
Accession Number1974.123
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsAncient Greece and Rome
ClassificationsSculpture
Catalogue Raisonné
Sculpture in Stone (MFA), no. 152; Sculpture in Stone and Bronze (MFA), p. 111 (additional published references).
DescriptionTorso of a slender young man. Head, forearms, legs from knees missing. Puntelli at left side and above right knee. His weight is carried on his right leg and his right hip shifts out to the side. He would have held a libation bowl in his extended right hand. In his left, which would have hung by his side, he probably carried a branch of foliage.
The best parallel for the statuette's pose and proportions is a Greek bronze statuette of 450-400 B.C. in the Ortiz collection (Vandoeuvres, Switzerland). (For the Ortiz bronze, see P. C. Bol, in Polyklet: Der Bildhauer der griechischen Klassik, Mainz, 1990, no. 152).
(entry partially adapted from The Art of the Ancient Mediterranean World, no. 185).
Scientific Analysis:
Harvard Lab No. HI739: Isotope ratios - delta13C +2.79 / delta18O -6.88, Attribution - Pentelikon, Justification - Fine grained marble.
The best parallel for the statuette's pose and proportions is a Greek bronze statuette of 450-400 B.C. in the Ortiz collection (Vandoeuvres, Switzerland). (For the Ortiz bronze, see P. C. Bol, in Polyklet: Der Bildhauer der griechischen Klassik, Mainz, 1990, no. 152).
(entry partially adapted from The Art of the Ancient Mediterranean World, no. 185).
Scientific Analysis:
Harvard Lab No. HI739: Isotope ratios - delta13C +2.79 / delta18O -6.88, Attribution - Pentelikon, Justification - Fine grained marble.
ProvenanceBy 1958: with Gerd Rosen, Berlin (auction 31, Berlin, November 24-29, 1958, lot 1911); before 1966: with Münzen und Medaillen, Malzgasse 25, Basel, Switzerland; by 1966: Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Rowland, Jr. Collection (first loaned to MFA as 8.66; later loaned to MFA as 174.67, 21.69, 44.1971,109.1972); 1973: Benjamin Rowland, Jr. Estate; bequest of Benjamin Rowland, Jr. to MFA, February 13, 1974