A Roman Stone Table (Monopodium), circa 1st Century A.D.
Estimate
70,000 - 100,000 EUR
Lot Details
Description
A Roman Stone Table (Monopodium), circa 1st Century A.D.
composed of a profiled base with s-shaped feet projecting at the corners, herm shaft with twin arm bars, cavetto capital, and broad tabletop, the support fronted by a giallo antico herm bust of a young satyr, his face with bearded chin, smiling mouth, moustache with voluted ends, and eyes recessed for inlay, his centrally divided hair bound in a fillet, crowned with a wreath of ivy leaves and clusters of berries, and swept up in symmetrical spiral curls above the forehead, the ends of the fillet falling over the shoulders.
Height 95cm., 37⅜in.
J. L. Souffrice, Galerie Voltaire, Paris;
acquired by the present owner from the above in April 1982.
Tables of this type are known from Pompeii and Herculaneum in particular (see Chr. Moss, Roman Marble Tables, doct. diss., Princeton University, 1988: https://arachne.dainst.org/catalog/1420). They were often set up in private houses, public buildings, workshops, and shops, less commonly in gardens, peristyles, and atriums. In addition to these ‘profane’ uses, there is evidence that they occasionally served as household altars to support libation implements and statuettes of divinities (see R. Hanslmayr, "Beobachtungen zu Aufstellung und Funktion kleiformatiger Schulterhermen aus pompejanischen Wohnhaüsern", in: K. Koller, U. Quatember, and E. Trinkl, eds., Stein auf Stein. Festschrift für Hilke Thür zum 80. Geburtstag, 2021, p. 173).
For a similar table see Sotheby's, New York, December 7th, 2005, no. 67. Also see Galerie Fischer, Lucerne, Sammlung A. Ruesch, September 1st-2nd, 1936, nos. 216. pl. 40, and 217, pl. 46.
You May Also Like
