Artist Unknown
Statue of a Man
- marble
- Rome/Italy
- Purchased 1973
- 407 x 217 x 143mm
- 74/67
Location: Burdon Family Gallery
Tags: Classical, figures (representations), men (male humans), people (agents)
Identifying the subject of a statue that is missing its head and arms is more than a little tricky. However, the relaxed pose and flowing drapery of this Roman statue suggest that it may depict Asclepius, the Greek god of medicine.
(Out of Time, 23 September 2023 – 28 April 2024)
Exhibition History
![Andreas Cellarius Hypothesis Ptolemaica Sive Communis Planetarum Motus Per Eccentricos Et Epicyclos Demonstrans [The Ptolemaic Hypothesis or Common Representation Demonstrating the Planetary Motions through Eccentrics and Epicycles] 1661. Hand-coloured engraving. Collection of Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū, William A. Sutton bequest, 2000](/media/cache/05/97/05970cdff0f6b3264062d69bf2aa90f5.jpg)
As Time Unfolds, 5 December 2020 – 7 March 2021
A statue with a missing head and arms is tricky to identify. This figure with its relaxed pose and generous folding drapery, however, is similar to statues of Asclepius, the popular ancient Greek hero and god of medicine. Asclepius is usually shown with a beard and holding a staff wrapped with a twisting snake. Otherwise, the figure could be a member of the ecclesia, or citizens’ assembly, such as a philosopher, or a similarly respectable male citizen.
The costume worn by this figure is known as a himation (pronounced “hee-mat-ee-on”), a rectangular piece of cloth thrown over the left shoulder and wrapped around the body. It was worn in ancient Greece from about 750 to 30 BC.