Antiquities and Ancient Art

Provenance:

Hosur Corporation, Kusnacht, Switzerland, 1989.

Dr. Mona Ackerman (1946-2012), New York.

Christie's, New York, Antiquities, 6 June 2013, Lot 610.

Life-sized and languid, the nude body of a young man at the cusp of adulthood is presented to best advantage. In a relaxed standing pose, the sculptor achieves a deft balance between adolescent softness and emerging virile strength. The shift in weight to the planted right leg animates the entire figure, expressed through a gently undulating spine, tensed obliques, and prominent glutei, creating a pronounced iliac crest. Long locks of hair fall in serpentine waves over each pectoral, likely descending from a chignon once gathered at the nape. The pubis is hairless. The tree-trunk support along the right thigh and the rectangular remains of a strut at the left provide little clue as to the original attributes that would have confirmed the figure’s identity, though the two most likely candidates are Apollo and Dionysos.

Both gods played key roles in rites of adolescent transition and, from the 5th century B.C., were commonly portrayed with mature physiques, yet beardless and long-haired. With the arms originally angled downward, if the present torso represented Apollo, he may have cradled a kithara (his signature stringed instrument) in his left arm. A close parallel from Pergamon (Pergamon Museum, Inv. no. GGS 63.30) shows the god with kithara, tripod, and serpent, all partially preserved. Based on comparable complete examples—such as one in Naples (Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Inv. no. 6316)—if the figure is Dionysos, he may have once supported the haft of a thyrsos in one arm and held a large drinking cup in the other.