A Roman marble head of a man, possibly the Emperor Trajan
Lot 161*
A Roman marble portrait head of the Emperor Trajan
£50,000 - 70,000
US$ 83,000 - 120,000
Auction Details
Lot Details
A Roman marble portrait head of the Emperor Trajan
Early 2nd Century A.D.
Depicted turning to the left, his stern face drawn into a frown, his thin lips pressed together, his hair characteristically combed forward over his forehead, 11in (27.8cm) high, mounted


  • Provenance:
    French private collection.
    François de Ricqlès, Drouot-Montaigne, Paris, 11 November 2001, lot 335. Accompanied by a copy of the French export licence.
    Royal Athena Galleries, Art of the Ancient World, vol. XIV, 2003, no.20.
    American private collection.

    The Emperor Trajan (Marcus Ulpius Traianus) acceded to the Imperial throne when he was forty-five years and ruled from A.D.98 to 117. Under his rule, the Empire saw its greatest expansion through military conquests, conquering Nabataea, Dacia, Armenia and Mesopotamia.

    Carved from marble from the Greek island of Thasos, this bust can be seen as one of Kleiner's 'postdecennial' types: D. Kleiner, Roman Sculpture, Yale, 1994, p.208, which includes those on the Trajan's Column in Rome and other posthumous portraits produced after Trajan's death in A.D.117. For a similar head of Trajan in the Uffizi, cf. G. Mansuelli, Galleria degli Uffizi. Le Sculture, Rome, 1961, no.83.
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