ROMAN BRONZE CERES STATUETTE
Ca. 100-300 AD.
A very fine bronze statuette of Ceres (Greek Demeter), the goddess of agriculture and fertility, depicted standing and wearing a long sleeveless Ionic chiton with himation around the head, fastened on the left side of the body; wearing a tutulus on her head, the right arm raised to hold a staff, the left arm covered by a mantle, the left hand probably originally held a sheaf of wheat, sandalled feet partially visible; finely modelled face; mounted on a custom-made display stand. Item comes with a professional historical report from Ancient Report Specialists. See Daremberg & Saglio, Dictionnaire des Antiquités Grecques et Romaines, Paris, 1873-1917, sub voce Ceres; for a similar Roman statuette see Reinach, S., Repertoire de la statuarie grecque et romaine, Paris, 1930, p.242, no.7, 243 no.1; for discussion on the use of such statues as Lares see Sharpe, H.F., ‘Bronze Statuettes from the Athenian Agora: Evidence for Domestic Cults in Roman Greece,’ in Hesperia: The Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, Vol. 83, no.1, January-March 2014, pp.143-187.
Size: L:205mm / W:90mm ; 536g
Provenance: From the collection of a Kensington gentleman; previously in the Weber family collection, UK, 1980s
Estimate: GBP 15000 - 25000