A Roman Marble Head of a Ram

Circa 1st-2nd Century A.D.

Height 7 inches (17.8 cm).

Provenance:

Private Collection, Europe, acquired 1960s-1970s.

Private Collection, New York, 2008.

Aphrodite Ancient Art, New York, 2015 (Art of the Ancient, Vol. II, no. 9. p. 16-17).

Art Loss Register no. S00109062

[accompanied with copy of a Lebanese export license]

Note:

Known for using their horns as weapons to establish dominance, mating rights, and to protect the flock, rams were important symbols of strength and virility in Ancient Rome. Large curled-horns frame the face of this fierce looking ram. Carved in the round and nearly complete, the head breaks just before the neck. It is difficult to determine from the location of the break if this piece once belonged to a free standing sculpture or served as an architectural adornment. For an example of a complete sculpture, see a loan at the Art Institute of Chicago (Inv. no. 189.2014.); For an example of an architectural elements, see the British Museum (1805,0703.209).

Intact as preserved. A small diamond-shaped filled fissure on the proper left eyelid and eye, visible with UV light. The bridge and tip of the nose having a slightly lighter, buff-colored appearance and differing texture, possibly with a small amount of modern plaster or composite on the surface, but not fluorescing under UV light. White-ish encrustations in a few of the recesses. A few small abrasions on the tops of the ears and top of the head / horns. The underside drilled and glued to the metal base. Width 10 inches (25.4 cm); height with stand 11.3 inches (9.3 cm).

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Please email for any additional information or questions you may have regarding this lot.

Jacob Coley

Senior Vice President, Head of Department, Antiquities and Ancient Art

[email protected]312 280 1212

Mr. Coley joined the Antiquities department in 2021 after working as Managing Director in the Ancient Art department at Colnaghi, the world’s oldest commercial art gallery, where he helped to establish the Ancient Art department and launched Colnaghi New York in 2017. Prior to Colnaghi, Mr. Coley was in the Greek and Roman Art department at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Mr. Coley holds a B.A. from the University of Miami and an M.A. in Art Market from the Fashion Institute of Technology, and he earned an art-appraisal certificate from New York University.

Antiquities and Ancient Art: A Study

A Roman Marble Head of a Ram

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