† AN IMPORTANT AND RARE ROMAN MARBLE STATUE OF HERMANUBIS, 1St-2ND CENTURY AD
Lot 67 - ANT1125

Greco-Egyptian. Masterfully carved as the syncretic deity standing in contrapposto, weight on the right leg, wearing a short tunic with overfold bound at the waist and a chlamys fastened at the right shoulder, the deep, cascading folds falling over a tree-trunk support. In his left hand he holds a winged caduceus (kerykeion) and small talaria are indicated at the ankles, uniting the attributes of Hermes with those of Anubis.

Expert’s Note:
Hermanubis, the fusion deity combining the Greek messenger god Hermes with the Egyptian funerary god Anubis, emerged during the Roman imperial period as a product of cross-cultural religious syncretism in Egypt. Embodying both the eloquence and mobility of Hermes and the protective guidance of Anubis, he served as a psychopomp — a conductor of souls between worlds — and a mediator between Greek and Egyptian spiritual traditions. Statues such as this one, carved with Roman naturalism yet imbued with Egyptian iconography, reflect the permeability of religious identities in the ancient Mediterranean, where divinity could transcend ethnic and cultural boundaries through the shared language of form and ritual.
The intentional decapitation of such figures — whether through religious iconoclasm, political upheaval, or neglect — speaks to the recurrent fragility of hybrid or liminal identities in history. Hermanubis, neither fully Greek nor fully Egyptian, became an early victim of the anxiety surrounding blended forms of belief, his destruction emblematic of the suppression of intermediaries who bridge opposites. This act of defacement was not merely physical but ideological: a deliberate erasure of complexity.
The same dynamic — the marginalization and silencing of figures that resist singular definition — persists into the present, from the Buddhas of Bamiyan to the destruction of Palmyra, from the throwing of Columbus into Baltimore Harbor to the defacement of Lenin statues in post-Soviet cities. Each shattered head, ancient or modern, reminds us that societies, when confronted with what they cannot easily define, so often turn their violence against it.
Conceptually, Hermanubis, for example, shares traits with the dog-headed Saint Christopher of the Byzantine tradition. Both figures emerge from the liminal zone between human and divine, their animal features expressing spiritual transformation rather than monstrosity. Each embodies a synthesis of cultures — Hermanubis uniting Greek and Egyptian theologies, Saint Christopher blending Christian sainthood with remnants of Cynocephalus lore — and both reveal how deeply hybrid imagery unsettled later orthodoxy. Their eventual reinterpretation or suppression illustrates the recurring unease with divine forms that refuse clear categorization.

Provenance: Sotheby’s New York, 23 June 1989, lot 135 (sold for USD 26,000 or approx. EUR 58,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing). An art dealer and collector in New York, acquired from the above, and thence by descent. Christie’s New York, 6 October 2022, lot 3 (mid-estimate of USD 100,000 or approx. EUR 94,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing).
Condition: Good condition with ancient wear and minor weathering, commensurate with age. Obvious, smoothened losses and chips. The underside with five circular remnants from fleece patches. Overall with an elegant, naturally grown patina.

Weight: 21.7 kg
Dimensions: Height 56 cm

Literature comparison:
Compare a closely related marble statue of the god Hermanubis with preserved jackal head, dated to the 1^st-2^nd century AD, 155 cm (high), in the Vatican Museum, object number 22840. Compare a closely related marble statue of the decapitated god Hermanubis, dated to the 1^st-2^nd century AD, in the collection of the famous artist Cy Twombly. Compare a related marble relief fragment of Hermanubis, dated to the 1^st-2^nd century AD, 56 cm (high), in the Walters Art Museum, accession number 23.50.

Auction comparison:
Type: Related
Auction: Christie’s New York, 6 October 2022, lot 12
Price: USD 138,600 or approx. EUR 130,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A Roman marble satyr, circa 1st-2nd century A.D.
Expert remark: Compare the closely related modeling, missing head and date. Note the larger size (110.4 cm).

Auction comparison:
Type: Related
Auction: Christie’s London, 26 April 2012, lot 319
Price: GBP 121,250 or approx. EUR 230,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A Roman marble Aphrodite, circa 1st-2nd century A.D.
Expert remark: Compare the closely related modeling, missing head and date. Note the slightly smaller size (42 cm).

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