Princely Features | A bust of Roman Royalty

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Sworders are extremely excited to present in our upcoming Fine Interiors sale, lot 277, a Roman marble portrait bust of an Antonine prince, dating from c.140 CE. This fine example originates from the collection of Lady Geraldine Inglis of Glencorse, believed to have been acquired c.1970s or earlier; thence by descent.

^{A Roman marble portrait bust of an Antonine prince (£30,000-50,000)}

The form, carving and quality of this bust, is consistent with other known portrait busts of the Nerva-Antonine period. It is a portrait of a child, apparently a boy, made around the middle decades of the 2nd century CE and features, such as the 'bridges' in the thick, curling hair and treatment of the eyes, with incised pupils and irises, are apparent in other known works of that date. For an example of the latter, see 'Marble head of a boy wearing a wreath', Metropolitan Museum, New York, no. 14.105.1.

The present piece recalls at first glance to be a younger version of an early Type 1 of Marcus Aurelius produced in his teens, about 139 CE, of which some twenty-five examples exist with a small, round, full-lipped mouth, see 'Bust of Marcus Aurelius', Capitoline Museums, Rome, no. 279. However, the main difference found in the present example is a lack of the stray locks hanging down the centre of the forehead.

^{A Roman marble portrait bust of an Antonine prince (£30,000-50,000)}

Klaus Fittschen, in his study of portraits of Antonine princes, highlights an almost identical example in the collection at Castle Howard, Yorkshire (plate p.74 a-b), suggesting that it could be an image of Marcus Aurelius Fulvus Antoninus (d. before 138 CE); one of two sons of Antoninus Pius (86-161 CE) who died very young. The scholarship on the two sons is currently limited, however, there is suggestion that there was a cult of him and his brother Marcus Galerius Aurelius Antoninus (d. before 138 CE).

^{A Roman marble portrait bust of an Antonine prince (£30,000-50,000)}

A named image of Galerius can be seen in a coin of uncertain Greek mint, which bears a noticeable familial similarity to the boy in the present example. In addition, there is another unnamed example that bears striking similarity to the Castle Howard bust, a 'Portrait head of a child in fine-grained white marble' in the collection of the Museum of Archaeology and Art of Maremma, Tuscany, with another two identical portraits cited by Wegner in Trier, at the Rhineland State Museum collection, no. 29238, and in Copenhagen, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, no. 3358. With the possible existence of five identical portraits of the young boy, it is reasonable to suggest that, even if the attributions are not definitive at this point, the sitter must have been a person of great significance.

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