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Head of Serapis

Second half of the II century. Marble.
Not on display

This head carved from bigio morato marble is broken into two parts, vertically. Its restoration required several additions, both to finish various curls and to reconstruct the top of the head, where a relatively well-disguised piece of gray marble is visible. The incrusted eyes are of white marble with nero antico pupils. The base is of gray-veined white marble. The figure´s identity has varied considerably and continues to do so. It may be the testa di Seneca di pietra paragone listed in the inventory of Christina of Sweden (no. 82) but it was then undocumented until it appeared in La Granja in the mid 17th century. It appears in the Ajello Sketchbook (drawing no. 53) and in the inventories of Charles III. Once in Madrid, it was listed in the Museo del Prado´s1849-1857 inventory as Jupiter, while Hübner though it was either of that god or of Pluto. In his handwritten comentaries on the Ajello Notebook, B. Vicens more accurately considers it an effigy of either Serapis or Bacchus, but Barrón prefers to follow Hübner. Finally, Blanco correctly identifies it as Serapis, a Greco-Egyptian god represented according to its Roman iconography and created during the period of Hadrian (117-138 A. D.). Bigio morato marble can have white veins, and is therefore called bianco e nero d´Egippo, although the location of its quarry is unknown. In any case, it was extensively used for sculptures from the 2nd century, A.D., especially those in Hadrian´s villa in Tivoli, which were made during his reign (Text from Elvira Barba, M. A.: Escultura clásica. Guía, Museo Nacional del Prado, 1999, p. 112).

Technical data

Imagen del carrusel
Imagen del carrusel
Imagen del carrusel
Imagen del carrusel

Related artworks

Serapis
Pencil on paper, Mid-XVIIIcentury
Ajello, Eutichio
Inventory number
E000323
Author
Anonymous
Title
Head of Serapis
Date
Second half of the II century
Technique
Sculpted
Medium
Marble
Dimension
Height: 45 cm; Width: 20 cm; Base/bottom: 20 cm; Weight: 22.6 Kg
Series
Colección Cristina de Suecia
Provenance
Royal Collection (Collection of Cristina de Suecia; San Ildefonso, Palacio Real, Felipe V's collection).

Bibliography +

Hübner, Emil, Die Antiken Bildwerke in Madrid, Druck Und Verlag Von Georg Reimer, Berlín, 1862, pp. 89.

Barrón, Eduardo, Catálogo de la escultura. Museo Nacional de Pintura y Escultura., Madrid, 1908, pp. 227, n.323.

Boyer, F., Les Antiques de Christine de Suède a Rome, Revue Archéologique, 1932, pp. 263, n.º 82.

Bieber, Margarete, The Sculpture of the Hellenistic Age, Hacker Art Books, Nueva York, 1955, pp. 83 s., fig. 297.

Blanco Freijeiro, Antonio, Catálogo de la escultura. Museo del Prado, Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid, 1957, pp. 117.

Castiglioni, L., La statue de culte hellenistique du. Serapieion d'Alexandrie, Bulletin de Musée hongrois des beaux-arts, 12, 1958, pp. 23 ss., figs. 13-19.

Thiemann, Eugen, Hellenistische vatergottheiten: Das Bild des bärtigen Gottes in der nachklassischen Kunst, Aschendorffsche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Münster, 1959, pp. 27 ss.

Helck, H. W., Der Kleine Pauly. Lexicon der Antike I-V, III, Stuttgart: Alfred Druckenmüller, 1969, pp. col. 952, s. v. Manethon.

Vidman, Ladislav, Isis und Sarapis bei den Griechen und Römern, De Gruyter, Berlin, 1970, pp. 18 ss.

Gnoli, Raniero, Marmora romana, Edizione dell'Elefante, Roma, 1971, pp. 165 s., figs. 199, 200.

Fraser, P. M., Ptolemaic Alexandria, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1972, pp. 246 ss.

Stambough, J. E., Sarapis under the Early Ptolemies, Etudes préliminaires aux religions orientales dans l'empire romain, 25, 1972, pp. 60 ss.

Hornborstel, W, Sarapis, Etudes préliminaires aux religions orientales dans l'empire romain, 32, 1973, pp. 98, nota 5; 243, nota 1, fig. 51.

Kater-Sibbes, G. J. F., Preliminary Catalogue of Serapis Monuments, Etudes préliminaires aux religions orientales dans l'empire romain, 36, 1973, pp. 149, n.º 794.

Fraser, P. M., Sarapis: Studien zur Überlieferungsgeschichte, den Erscheinungsformen and Wandlungen der Gestalt eines Gottes by W. Hornbostel, Journal of Hellenic Studies, 96, 1976, pp. 213 ss.

Hornborstel, W., Hommages à M. J. Vermaseren II, Etudes préliminaires aux religions orientales dans l'empire romain, 68, 1978, pp. 510, con nota 30.

Kyrieleis, H., Stele, Homenaje a N. Kontoleon, 1980, pp. 383 ss., láms. 168, 170, 172, 174.

Blanco, Antonio; Lorente, Manuel, Catálogo de la escultura. Museo del Prado (2ª ed.), Patronato Nacional de Museos, Madrid, 1981, pp. 112.

Elvira Barba, M. A., El Alejandrismo. Tesis Doctoral, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, 1981, pp. 84 ss.

Castiglione, L., Alessandria e il mondo hellenistico-romano, I, 1983, pp. 139 ss.

Tran Tam Tihn, V., Sérapis debout, Etudes préliminaires aux religions orientales dans l'empire romain, 94, 1983.

Tran Tam Tihn, V., Etat des études iconographiques relatives à Isis, Sérapis et Sunnaoi Theoi, Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt, II (17, 3), 1984, pp. 1715, nota 9.

Pollitt, J. J., Art in the Hellenistic Age, Cambridge University Press, 1986, pp. 279 s.

Anderson, Maxwell L.; Nista, Leila, Radiance in stone: Sculptures in colored marble from the Museo Nazionale Romano, De Lucca Edizioni d'Arte, Roma, 1989, pp. 67, fig. 8; 85 ss., fig. 15.

Stewart, Andrew, Greek Sculpture. An Exploration, I, Yale University Press, New Haven, 1990, pp. 202 s., 300 s.

Alvar, Jaime, Los cultos mistéricos en la Tarraconense, en: Religio deorum. Actas del coloquio internacional de epigrafía "Culto y sociedad en Occidente" / editado por Marc Mayer, Tarragona, 1990, pp. 34, nota 34.

Ridgway, B. S, Hellenistic Sculpture, I, The University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, Wisconsin, 1990, pp. 96 s.

Maderna-Lauter, C., Forschungen zur Villa Albani: catalog der antiken bildwerke II, bildwerke in den portiken, dem vestibül und der kapelle des casino / editado por Peter C. Bol, Schriften des Liebieghauses, Mann, Berlin, 1992, pp. 310 ss., notas 20 ss.

Grimm, G., Alexandria, Mainz am Rhein, 1998, pp. 83, figs. 84 a, b; 85 a-c.

Elvira Barba, Miguel Ángel, El Cuaderno de Ajello y las esculturas del Museo del Prado, Museo del Prado, Madrid, 1998, pp. dibujo 53.

Elvira Barba, Miguel Ángel, El Cuaderno de Ajello y las esculturas del Museo del Prado, Museo del Prado, Madrid, 1998, pp. 168 s., lám. 53.

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Borea, Evelina; Gasparri, Carlo, L'idea del bello: viaggio per Roma nel seicento con Giovan Pietro Bellori, Edizioni de Luca, Roma, 2000.

Guarducci, Margheritta, “L’iscrizione sul monumento del Carroccio in Campidoglio e la sua Croce radiata”, L'Erma di Bretschneider, Roma, 2003, pp. 99-108.

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Schröder, Stephan F, Catálogo de la escultura clásica: Museo del Prado II, Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid, 2004, pp. 429-433.

Schröder, S.; Elvira Barba, M.A, "Eutichio Ajello (1711-1793) y su descripción de la célebre Real Galería de San Idelfonso", Boletín del Museo del Prado, XXIV, 2006, pp. 40-88.

Roma e l' antico : realtà e visione nel ´700, Skira, 2010, pp. 456/293.

Elvira Barba, Miguel Angel, Las esculturas de Cristina de Suecia: un tesoro de la Corona de España, Real Academia de Historia, Madrid, 2011, pp. 36,75 / 99.

Other inventories +

Inv. Carlos III, 1789-1790. Núm. 2844.
2844 En la otra mesa se hallan otras dos caCavezas de marmol negro de un pie sin sus peanas á mil reales cada una importa. 2.000

Inv. Real Museo, 1857. Núm. 255.
255. Una cabeza de mármol negro sobre base blanca que representa a Júpiter. / Alto 1 pie, 1 pulgada. / Id. la base 5 pulg, 6 lin.

Inscriptions +

X
Cross of Burgundy or Cross of Saint Andrew, collection’s mark belonging to Felipe V. On the front

323
Inscribed in black. Plinth

Exhibitions +

Roma e l'Antico. Visione e realtà nel '700
Roma
29.11.2010 - 08.05.2011

Bibliotheca Alexandrina
Madrid
09.07.2003 - 21.09.2003

El cuaderno de Ajello y las esculturas del Museo del Prado
Madrid
19.10.1998 - 03.01.1999

Update date: 07-03-2024 | Registry created on 28-04-2015

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