Roman, Imperial period, ca. 3rd to 4th century CE. An adorable marble sculpture of a nude youth playfully carrying a piglet over his left shoulder. The endearing figure displays a pudgy body and a cherubic visage of round, hooded eyes with pierced pupils, fleshy lips held in a petite smile, and full cheeks, all crowned by a thick coiffure of neatly coiled tendrils. He turns to his right, holding the elongated body of his animal companion to the left, contorting his torso as his long neck projects his ephebic countenance forward. Size: 8.3" W x 8.9" H (21.1 cm x 22.6 cm); 14" H (35.6 cm) on included custom stand.

During the High Classical period (ca. 450 to 400 BCE), Polykleitos developed a canon (kanon) of proportions to create statues that epitomized the ideal human body. He wrote a treatise referred to as the Kanon and envisioned the ideal male nude, also referred to as the Kanon, to exemplify his theories which were grounded in mathematical formulas. He aimed for balance, completeness, and general harmony in his works. Although Polykleitos' original bronze Doryphoros did not survive, through ancient writings we know that his sculpture captured the Greek principles of symmetria (symmetry), isonomia (equilibrium), and rhythmos (rhythm). Polykleitos famously stated, "Perfection comes about little by little through many numbers" (Philo, Mechanicus, quoted in Andrew Stewart, "Polykleitos of Argos," One Hundred Greek Sculptor: Their Careers and Extant Works) - meaning that a statue is comprised of numerous definable parts that relate to one another via a system of mathematical ratios. Sculptors employed Polykleitos' Kanon to achieve such "perfect" statues, and this Kanon was later adhered to the Roman sculptors (such as the artist who created this example) as well as sculptors of the Renaissance and Neo-Classical periods.

Published in "Gorny & Mosch" Auktion Kunst der Antike 19. Juni 2013, 214," page 125, lot 232A.

Provenance: private Superior, Colorado, USA collection; ex-Artemis Gallery, Louisville, Colorado, USA, October 23rd, 2014, lot 123; ex-private New York City, New York, USA collection; ex-Gorny and Mosch, Germany, June 19th, 2013, auction 214, lot 232A with estimate of 15000 Euros.

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#174331

Losses to lower body, arms, and nose of figure, as well as front legs and head of piglet. Left shoulder, right arm, piglet, and part of head professionally repaired with overpainting on break lines. Some nicks and abrasions throughout. Otherwise, very nice with excellent preservation of sculpted detail. Petite remains of pigment in some areas of coiffure.