Roman Marble Trapezophoron Lion - Table Leg

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Exceptional Day 1: Antiquities & Asian Art

By Artemis Gallery

Sep 26, 2019

Set Reminder 2019-09-26 10:00:00 2019-09-26 10:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : Exceptional Day 1: Antiquities & Asian Art https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/artemis-gallery/exceptional-day-1-antiquities-asian-art-4437
Day 1 of an important 2-day auction featuring exceptional, museum-worthy examples of Egyptian, Greek, Etruscan, Roman, Viking, Russian, Near Eastern, as well as Asian Art from China, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, Burma and India. Artemis Gallery info@artemisgallery.com

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• Lot Description
  Roman, Imperial Period, ca. 1st to 2nd century CE. A handsome, large, upper portion of a marble table leg, also known as a trapezophoron or trapezorophos, capped by a lion's head. The lion's body curves proudly outward, rising from a wide central point that looks like a column. A floral display, carved artfully to be openwork in places, bursts outward from this column. The fierce lion's head has a dramatic mane carved onto the leg below its projecting snout, its thick, curled locks in relief against the smooth neck. The heavy head features small ears, deepset eyes that may have once had an inlay, a furrowed brow, and an open mouth. Above and behind the lion is a plinth with a sunken area. Imagine the size and grandeur of the table that this leg once supported! Size: 8.5" L x 5" W x 14.25" H (21.6 cm x 12.7 cm x 36.2 cm); 23.5" H (59.7 cm) on included custom stand.
  
  The marble for this example is of a rare rype, most likely quarried in southern Italy (Sicily) or possibly Algeria. It is rare to see the darker color of marble used for these items, which are most often made with marmo luna, the pure white marble. Feline-headed table supports were a sign of wealth and refinement in ancient Rome, and several examples of different styles are known, although most, unlike this one, have been restored. Perhaps the most famous are the three found a with round marble tabletop in the house of Cornelius Rufus in Pompeii, which stood behind the impluvium, the area of a Roman house usually lined by marble and designed to carry away rainwater. Tables like this one seem to have been used to support a display of vases, oil lamps, and other household treasures. These legged tables were not always tripods - other examples found at Pompeii were two- and four-legged. Fascinatingly, many of these table legs - the ones not frozen in time by volcanic eruptions - took on a life of their own, long after their original owners commissioned them. For example, some have been found from the medieval period in cities that were not in existence during the Roman period - no doubt carried there by people who found the ruins of a Roman villa and were struck by the beauty of the Roman artwork.
  
  Provenance: private East Coast, USA collection; ex-Texas, USA collection; ex-Baidun Family collection, Jerusalem, Israel, 2012 (accompanied by Israeli import document); ex-English private collection prior to 1940
  
  All items legal to buy/sell under U.S. Statute covering cultural patrimony Code 2600, CHAPTER 14, and are guaranteed to be as described or your money back.
  
  A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids.
  
  We ship worldwide and handle all shipping in-house for your convenience.
  
  #149157

  Condition

  Lower end is lost; what remains is unrepaired/unrestored. Weathered surface with some reddish soil deposits. There are a few small losses to upper plinth. The lion itself is in great condition. Nice preservation of form with some fantastic details remaining, as around the mane.
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