HELLENISTIC PERIOD, CIRCA LATE 2ND-EARLY 1ST CENTURY B.C.

Name: A GREEK MARBLE HIP HERM OF HERAKLES
Brand: HELLENISTIC PERIOD, CIRCA LATE 2ND-EARLY 1ST CENTURY B.C.
Price: 85000.00 USD
Availability: SoldOut

Price Realised USD 106,250

Estimate

USD 80,000 - USD 120,000

Closed: 16 Jun 2020

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A GREEK MARBLE HIP HERM OF HERAKLES

HELLENISTIC PERIOD, CIRCA LATE 2ND-EARLY 1ST CENTURY B.C.

Price Realised USD 106,250

Closed: 16 Jun 2020

Price Realised USD 106,250

Closed: 16 Jun 2020

Details Lot Essay Related Articles More from

26¹⁄₂ in. (67.3 cm.) high

Auktion II, Ars Antiqua, Lucerne, 14 May 1960, lot 56.
with Royal-Athena Galleries, New York (Archaeology 17, no. 1, 1964, frontispiece).
Acquired by the current owner from the above, 1964.

J. Boardman, "Herakles," in LIMC, vol. IV, Zurich and Munich, 1988, p. 782, no. 1138.

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Lot Essay

Unlike standard herm figures, which have a head surmounting a rectangular shaft, the hip herm has the figure fully modeled to the hips, the shaft emerging below. Here the hero is swathed in the lion skin, its head at his right shoulder. His right arm is bent acutely, his hand held to his chest, clutching one of the legs, while his left arm is lowered and bent forward, a lion’s paw covering his hand. Original red pigment is preserved on Herakles’ lips.
Hip herms in the form of Herakles similar to the present example were popular from the 3rd century B.C. through to the later Roman period, ranging in scale from miniature to over life size (see Boardman, op. cit., p. 781, with a list of nearly sixty examples). Versions in the round, as here, may have served to signpost a gymnasium or palestra.