Appendix A
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Title
Sphinx
Date created
Animal body, wings, mask: 17th century or earlier (?)
Base: 17th century or later (?)
Sphinx head: ancient (?)
Material
White marble, warm undertones.
Animal body is medium grained, wings are slightly finer grained, mask is eroded from water, making granularity difficult to determine.
Base is also finer grained than the body, darker and cooler toned.
Sphinx head is coarser grained.
Dimensions
Overall height: 63 cm
Overall length: 110 cm
Sphinx head height: 24 cm
Sphinx head width: 20 cm
Mask height: 20 cm
Mask width: 32 cm
Condition
Numerous cracks and patches, as well as erosion, discoloration from rust, and dirt. Composed of parts, or groups of parts, that did not belong with one another. Animal body, wings, and mask in paws are one group, though broken and repaired. Separate are: left part of mask’s hair, head of sphinx, and base.
Provenance
Rome (?)
Description
Animal body, wings, mask:
The thin, hound-like body with feathered wings stands on all four legs in the air. Its front paws rest on the voluminous hair of a mask below. The mask’s face is bearded, with furrowed eyebrows and mouth opened in distress. A fountain spout goes through its open mouth. Other masks with beard, billowing hair, and use as fountain have been identified as Oceanus.1
The connections between paws and mask’s hair, paws and wings, and wings and canine body are all smooth, suggesting these pieces were made together. The overall composition of sphinx and mask is documented in a 1638 inventory record, dating this group of pieces at 17th century or earlier.2
The left part of the mask’s hair is separated from the mask by a wide gap—a later addition. Its locks are longer than on the hair on the right, imitating the original but not entirely matching.
Base:
The sphinx stands on a rectangular base, with rounded corners and molding, in a fountain basin. The base is described as new in an 1881 entry, placing the base at 17th century or later.3
Sphinx head:
The sphinx’s head is connected to the body by an elongated, curved neck. Its face is young with a serene expression. The hair is arranged in framing curls with a single braid down the middle of the head. The braid follows hairstyles in Roman portraits of children and depictions of Eros.4
Undecided whether this head is ancient.
Notes
1 See Arachne 600230 and Bocca della Verità.
2 Angela Gallottini, Le sculture della collezione Giustiniani I. Documenti (Rome 1988), 1638 inventory no. 361.
3 Friedrich Matz and Friedrich von Duhn, Antike Bildwerke in Rom (Leipzig 1881), no. 1615.
4 For example, see Statue of Cupid and Psyche, Florence, Uffizi; see Ingo Herklotz, “Excavations, Collectors, and Scholars in Seventeenth-Century Rome,” in Archives and Excavations: Essays on the History of Archaeological Excavations in Rome and Southern Italy from the Renaissance to the Nineteenth Century, ed. Ilaria Bignamini (London: British School at Rome, 2004), 69 fig. 14.
Entry author
A.H.
Title
Bust of Cicero
Date created
Head: 18th - early 19th century
Bust: 17tth – 18tth century (?)
Pedestal: 17tth – 19tth century (?)
Material
Head: white, very fine grained, pure marble
Bust: fine grained, purple marble with inclusions (breccia?)
Pedestal: grey marble with white veins
Dimensions
Condition
Head: no damages; fainted traces of black color in eyeballs to indicate pupils
Bust: end of hanging corner of mantel on bottom right missing
Pedestal: larger fragment on top front rim and smaller fragment on bottom rim broken off; smaller chips missing on front and back.
Provenance
Rome (?)
Description
Head, bust and pedestal did originally not belong to each other as their proportions do not match.
Head: The head, slightly turned to the left, represent a middle-aged man with a big, slightly curved nose. His large crescent- shaped locks are loosely combed, but he is going bald on the forehead. Several facial features indicate advanced age: furrows on forehead and wrinkles at the corners of the eyes; deep furrows leading from his nose to the mouth; and a double chin. The deep furrows at the nasal bone along with contracted eyebrows give the face an expression of concern.
All these features correspond to a late Republican portrait type that has been identified as representing Marcus Tullius Cicero.1
The pristine state of the marble and the somewhat flat contours of the head suggest that this is not an ancient, but a modern copy. Its model was most likely the head in the Capitoline museum Inv. 580, Stanza dei Filosofi 56.2
The pure, glaring white marble of the head together with the more scholarly approach of a relatively precise copying meets aesthetic preferences of the 18th century.
Bust: The bust comprises shoulders and upper part of the chest. On the front one can make out three layers of fabric: a simple, tunic-like undergarment, visible only at the neck; a second, less tight undergarment with a V-neck and irregular v-shaped folds; a mantle wrapped around both shoulders
The bust attempts to imitate types of the Antonine period (about 2nd half of 2nd century C.E.) with the accumulated fabric of the mantle framing its lower the contour. The mantle’s border is flipped on the left shoulder, at the bottom left it is pulled over the billowing underneath. Unlike its ancient models, bust is not deeply carved out in the back. The support has the form of a half-column. The bust was probably made in the 17th or 18th century.
Pedestal: The circular pedestal is molded with a circular plinth, torus, thin cincture, cavetto and broader cincture on top. Its diameter is largest at the bottom and smallest in the middle.
Notes
1 After an inscription on a bust at Apsley House; see Wolf-R. Megow, Republikanische Bildnistypen, Frankfurt et al. 2005, 109-124 (Typus XII Florenz-Apsley House) for summary of scholarship.
2 Ibid. 109-110 no. XII d pl. 59c-d; 60 a-d.
Bibliography
Friedrich Matz – Friedrich von Duhn, Antike Bildwerke in Rome, mit Ausschluss der grösseren Sammlungen, Leipzig 1881, 494 no. 1812; Angela Gallottini, Le sculture della collezione Giustiniani I. Documenti. Rome: Erma di Bretschneider 1988, 292 IX (inventory 1900).
Entry author
A.A.