Ancient Roman Marble Horse head. 1st-3rd century AD. 26 cm Length.

Horse head.

Ancient Roman, 1st-3rd century AD.

Marble.

Lenght 26 cm long and height 22 cm and 29 cm with the stand.

CONDITION: Good state of preservation. Fragment without restorations.

PROVENANCE: - Private collection, George S. Mack, Greenwich, Connecticut (USA). Acquired between the 1980s and early 1990s.

- New York Art Market, 2024.

DESCRIPTION:

Horse's head in profile, carved in high relief in marble, from the decoration of a large monumental sarcophagus. The right side and the front of the head are completely carved, while the left side is only roughly trimmed, as it would be hidden from view. The animal is depicted with a complete halter, worked with such care that the fineness of the leather straps can be appreciated. Around the neck, the different parts of the harness have also been carved in detail. The face is highly expressive and realistic; the artist has worked with meticulousness and detail on the anatomy, accurately reflecting the bone structure of the horse's head and even the delicate folds of its skin, and particularly emphasizes the furrowed brow, the open mouth showing the large blunt teeth and the folded back nostrils, so that we can almost hear the animal snorting. The profile is framed by the carved mane made of thick wavy locks, agitated by the animal's movement.

The carving of the relief is impressive, with rotund volumes and contrasting excavated areas. In this sense, details such as the right eye stand out, with the eyelids well outlined in relief, standing out under the prominent superciliary arch, and the differentiated iris, with the pupil in turn represented by a slight concavity. This resource aims to make the horse's expression stand out in a probably complex composition, full of figures in movement (fig. 1). This work on the horse's head practically in the round, with a meticulous and very deep carving, can also be seen in one of the richest preserved Roman sarcophagi, known as the Ludovisi Sarcophagus, kept in the Palazzo Altemps in Rome (fig. 2). In other examples the horse is not represented in its entirety, but only its head, which also stands out in a notable way. This is the case of another important sarcophagus from the 3rd century, decorated with the theme of Achilles in Scyros and belonging to the collection of the Louvre Museum (fig. 3). This high relief, with which important details of the scene were worked, such as the heads of the horses, is the reason why they have often been preserved as fragments separated from the rest of the composition (fig. 4).

Both the expression of the horse's face and the dynamism of the mane reflect a clear narrative tension, a drama typical of full Hellenism, inherited by the sculptors of imperial Rome. The same occurs with the attention to detail and the naturalism of the carving, which moves away from the synthesis of classical models to pursue verism and narrative. Although in certain examples a certain archaism can be appreciated in the work of the faces and anatomies of the characters, in the case of the representations of animals it is common for the typically Hellenistic realistic language to be maintained (fig. 5). In this sense, the comparison with reliefs of sarcophagi in the Neo-Attic style, notably more archaic although they retain the taste for realistic detail and a soft, naturalistic modelling (fig. 6), is interesting.

These types of monumental Roman sarcophagi, decorated with rich reliefs depicting mythological scenes, derive from the models of Greek Hellenism. Among them, the one known as the sarcophagus of Alexander the Great (fig. 7) stands out, a rare example with historical decoration - the battle of Issus, where Alexander the Great faced the Persians. Its front alternates human figures and horses in a composition that uses relief ranging from a few millimetres for the details furthest from the viewer to the rounded shape for the closest ones, thus reinforcing the illusion of depth of the scene, and its realism.

In the early days of Roman civilisation, the most common practice was burial, but with the passage of time cremation would become the most widely used formula from the end of the Republican era and especially between the 1st and 2nd centuries AD. In fact, Tacitus, in the 1st century, refers to cremation as Romanus mos, that is, “the Roman way”. Inhumation was more common among slaves and the poor, as it was a less expensive and considerably faster method. Over time, this formula would replace cremation throughout the empire, in parallel with the decline of Roman cities and the changes in the religious sphere that marked the end of the Ancient Age.

Roman funerary art included sarcophagi, cinerary urns and altars for the burial of bodies or ashes, and also commemorative constructions such as mausoleums and steles. The use of each type varied over time, and altars and cinerary urns would in fact lose importance throughout the 2nd century AD, in favour of sarcophagi. However, the decoration of funerary monuments would maintain a continuous flow, including from simply ornamental motifs such as garlands or animal heads to highly complex mythological scenes.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

- FRIEDLAND, E.A.; SOBOCINSKI, M.G.; GAZDA, E.K. (eds). The Oxford Handbook of Roman Sculpture. Oxford University Press. 2015. - KLEINER, D.E. Roman Sculpture. Yale University Press. 1992. - TOYNBEE, J.M.C. Animals in Roman Life and Art. Cornell University Press. 1973. - PLATT, V.J. “Framing the dead on Roman sarcophagi”, in RES: Anthropology and Aesthetics, no. 61/62. 2012, pp. 213-227.

PARALLELS:

Fig. 1 Sarcophagus of Portonaccio. Rome, h. 180-200 AD Marble, 114 cm high. Palazzo Massimo, Rome, inv. 11,327.

Fig. 1 Sarcophagus of Portonaccio. Rome, h. 180-200 AD Marble, 114 cm high. Palazzo Massimo, Rome, inv. 11,327.

Fig. 2 Ludovisi sarcophagus. Rome, h. 250-260 AD Marble, 153 cm high. Palazzo Altemps, Rome, inv. 186.

Fig. 2 Ludovisi sarcophagus. Rome, h. 250-260 AD Marble, 153 cm high. Palazzo Altemps, Rome, inv. 186.

Fig. 3 Sarcophagus with Achilles in Skiros. Attica, Roman Empire, c. 240 AD Marble, 122 cm high. Musée du Louvre, Paris, inv. MR 690, 691, 692; MR 703; N 1579; No. 37; N 1514; Ma 2120.

Fig. 3 Sarcophagus with Achilles in Skiros. Attica, Roman Empire, c. 240 AD Marble, 122 cm high. Musée du Louvre, Paris, inv. MR 690, 691, 692; MR 703; N 1579; No. 37; N 1514; Ma 2120.

Fig. 4 Horse's head from a sarcophagus relief. Roman Empire, c. AD 220–240. Marble, 37 x 29.5 x 10.2 cm. RISD Museum, Providence, inv. 20.327.

Fig. 5 Sarcophagus with the myth of Selene and Endymion. Rome, h. 210 AD Marble, 61 cm high. Musée du Louvre, Paris, inv. MR 751; No. 456; Ma 362.

Fig. 5 Sarcophagus with the myth of Selene and Endymion. Rome, h. 210 AD Marble, 61 cm high. Musée du Louvre, Paris, inv. MR 751; No. 456; Ma 362.

Fig. 6 Front of sarcophagus with the abduction of Persephone. Rome, h. 170-180 AD Marble, 44 cm high. Musée du Louvre, Paris, inv. MR 840; No. 515; Ma 409.

Fig. 6 Front of sarcophagus with the abduction of Persephone. Rome, h. 170-180 AD Marble, 44 cm high. Musée du Louvre, Paris, inv. MR 840; No. 515; Ma 409.

Fig. 7 Alexander's sarcophagus. Greece, late 4th century BC. Marble, 200 x 170 x 320 cm. Istanbul Archaeological Museum.

Fig. 7 Alexander's sarcophagus. Greece, late 4th century BC. Marble, 200 x 170 x 320 cm. Istanbul Archaeological Museum.








Notes:

- The piece includes authenticity certificate.
- The piece includes Spanish Export License (Passport for European Union) - If the piece is destined outside the European Union a substitution of the export permit should be requested, can take between 1-2 weeks maximum.
- The seller guarantees that he acquired this piece according to all national and international laws related to the ownership of cultural property. Provenance statement seen by Catawiki.