Property from the Vision of Aso O. Tavitian, sold to benefit the Tavitian Foundation
A Roman Giallo Antico Marble Herm bust of Silenus, circa 2nd Century A.D.
Live auction begins on:
July 1, 01:00 PM GMT
Estimate
30,000 - 50,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
with full beard of voluted curls, broad moustache with corkscrew ends, parted lips with visible teeth, bulbous aquiline nose, prominent cheekbones, deep-set eyes recessed for inlays under shaggy eyebrows, and gnarled furrowed brow, his curly hair swept up above the forehead and surmounted by a wreath of ivy leaves and berries, the ends of his fillet falling over the shoulders.
Height 6.4 inches (16.2 cm.)
said to have been found in Libarna (modern-day Serravalle Scrivia), near Genoa
Marchesa Bianca Lomellini
Santo Varni (1807-1885), Genoa, received as a gift from the above (his sale: Giulio Sambon, Genoa, Collezione del defunto Comm. Santo Varni di Genova, November 14th, 1887)
Galerie Samarcande, Paris
Acanthus Gallery, New York, early 1980s
private collection, Spain
Rupert Wace Ancient Art, London
Sotheby’s, New York, June 5th, 2008, no. 31, illus.
acquired by the present owner at the above sale
RECORDED
drawing by Santo Varni: mss. Marmi, pl. 7 (Pastorino, op. cit., 2021, pp. 96 and 122)
PUBLISHED
Santo Varni, Appunti di diverse gite fatte nel territorio dell'antica Libarna, vol. 1, Genoa, 1866, p. 62, no. 5 ("the most beautiful work of statuary so far discovered in Libarna")
Anna Maria Pastorini, "Materiali libarnesi e tortonesi della collezione Santo Varni al Museo Civico di Archeologia Ligure", Colligite Fragmenta, Marica Venturino and Daniela Gandolfi, eds., Bordighero, 2009, p. 243
Anna Maria Pastorino, La collezione di sculture antiche di Santo Varni, Genoa, 2021, p. 61, cat. no. 15, illus. on pp. 96 and 122
Arachne, ID no. 6653564 (arachne.dainst.org/entity/6653564)
For a closely related herm bust in Princeton see J. Padgett, ed., Roman Sculpture in the Art Museum Princeton University, 2001, pp. 108ff., no 28; https://artmuseum.princeton.edu/collections/objects/29169. Other examples are in Naples (https://arachne.dainst.org/entity/574488), Cordoba (https://arachne.dainst.org/entity/1115879), and Saint Petersburg (https://arachne.dainst.org/entity/576686 and https://arachne.dainst.org/entity/576685). Also see Sotheby's, London, July 7th, 2023, no. 275.
Such busts were decorative elements incorporated into table supports, set into niches in walls or altars, or fixed atop small shafts in gardens.
Aso O. Tavitian (1940-2020) focused his philanthropy on efforts to achieve world peace, particularly in the Armenian region, on the arts and on education. During his lifetime, he funded graduate, post graduate and mid-career education for hundreds of individuals, asking only that they do the same for others should they have the opportunity. The trustees of the Tavitian Foundation will continue to support these philanthropic priorities. All sale proceeds from this lot will benefit the Tavitian Foundation.
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