Marble Torso of a Countryman

Culture: Roman

Period: 2nd century A.D.

Material: Marble

Dimensions: 46.5 cm high

Price: 28 000 Euro

Ref: 3429

Provenance: Belgian private collection U.C., acquired in the 1950s. Since then in a diplomatic family estate.

Condition: Unrestored

Description: High-quality torso of a strong, male figure wearing a sheepskin. The fur is tied around the belly and is only closed at the left shoulder. The man, interpreted as a hunter or farmer, is holding a skewer with two birds, probably ducks, in his right hand at hip height. His left arm runs parallel to his body, and in his hand he holds a rabbit by its legs. The muscles and bone structure are worked in great detail. The sculpture belongs to the genre of "fishermen and country people", a genre that probably originated in Hellenism. The statues of this group show simple peole, often clearly characterized as poor and marked by life. Often it is fishermen and hunters who carry their captured animals, typically small game, and sometimes Dionysian attributes are also present, so that one would assume that the figures are on the way to a Dionysian festival to which they contribute their prey. The basic research on this: H.P. Laubscher "Fischer und Landleute. Studien zur hellenistischen Genreplastik", Mainz 1982. An identical torso, which most likely comes from the same workshop and can be assigned to the same group of figures, is in the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia, USA, under the accession number A231. The Barnes torso in the same spotted fur holds a wineskin in his arms, but is interpreted as a satyr. Mounted.