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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1977.216.2507
Title
Lower Part of a Votive Statuette of Asklepios, copy of Greek original of 4th century BC
Classification
Sculpture
Work Type
sculpture
Date
150-200 CE
Period
Roman Imperial period, Middle
Culture
Roman
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/289238

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Alabaster-like marble
Technique
Carved
Dimensions
12.5 x 8.5 x 4.5 cm (4 15/16 x 3 3/8 x 1 3/4 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Henry W. Haynes, bequest; to the Department of the Classics, 1912, transfer; to the Fogg Art Museum, 1977.
Bequest of Henry W. Haynes to the Department of the Classics, 1912.
Transfer from the Department of the Classics, 1977.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Transfer from the Department of the Classics, Harvard University, Bequest of Henry W. Haynes, 1912
Accession Year
1977
Object Number
1977.216.2507
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Published Catalogue Text: Stone Sculptures: The Greek, Roman and Etruscan Collections of the Harvard University Art Museums , written 1990
52

Lower Part of a Votive Statuette of Asklepios

Broken across the waist, with traces of the right hand remaining at the top of the staff. The front of the right foot is damaged.

The god stands on a thin plinth with a tenon for insertion below. He held the serpent-entwined staff in his right hand, and the omphalos was set beside his left foot. The cloak falls to the plinth all along the back, with a series of stylized zigzag and diagonal fold that contrast with the deeper rendering of the figure at the front. The carving of the flesh surfaces, including snake, staff, and omphalos, is very smooth, and the toes of the left foot are rendered in detail.

This small statue is a summary but vigorous reflection of a famous Roman copy in the Museo Nazionale, Naples, the original of which goes back through the art of Hellenistic Pergamon to the fourth century B.C. (Winter, 1898-1902, pl. 309, no. 3). The general type has been named the "Asklepios Amelung" after the famous German archaeologist Walther Amelung who sought an identification with the Attalid cult statue by Phyraomachos at Pergamon (Uhlmann, 1982, pp. 33-34). Variations of the older statue or statues have survived in replicas, as here, of all sizes and on Pergamon coins from Antoninus Pius (A.D. 138-161) through Caracalla (A.D. 211-217) and later.

Cornelius Vermeule and Amy Brauer

Publication History

  • V. Uhlmann, Hefte des archaologischen Seminars der Universitat (Bern, Switzerland, 1982), p. 36, no. 11 in list of replicas
  • Cornelius C. Vermeule III and Amy Brauer, Stone Sculptures: The Greek, Roman and Etruscan Collections of the Harvard University Art Museums, Harvard University Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 1990), p. 70, no. 52

Exhibition History

  • Ancient Installation at Fitchburg Art Museum, Fitchburg Art Museum, Fitchburg, 09/30/2013 - 01/26/2015

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu