Open image in slideshow, Beautiful, Antique, reproduction from the late 18th century or early 19th century , in gilded bronze, of the horse's head from the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius on the Capitoline Hill, Rome, Italy

Beautiful, Antique, reproduction from the late 18th century or early 19th century , in gilded bronze, of the horse's head from the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius on the Capitoline Hill, Rome, Italy

$ 11,000.00

Tax included.

Beautiful, Antique, reproduction from the late 18th century or early 19th century , in gilded bronze, of the horse's head from the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius on the Capitoline Hill, Rome, Italy

 

Italy end 1700 - early 1800.

 

Size 17 x 15 x 9 cm

 

Good condition.

 

Beautiful gilt bronze sculpture of a horse’s head, fixed in plexiglass with a black marble base. Work done by an Italian master from the end of the 18th century

 

The statue was erected around 175 AD. Its original location is debated: the Roman Forum and Piazza Colonna ( where the Column of Marcus Aurelius stands) have been proposed. However, it was noted that the site where it had originally stood had been converted into a vineyard during the early Middle Ages.

Although there were many equestrian imperial statues, they rarely survived because it was the common practice to melt down bronze statues for reuse as material for coins or new sculptures in the late empire. Indeed, that of Marcus Aurelius is one of only two surviving bronze statues of a pre-Christian Roman emperor; the Regisole,  destroyed after the French Revolution, may have been another. The equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius in Rome owes its preservation on the Campidoglio to the popular mis-identification of Marcus Aurelius, the philosopher-emperor, with Constantine the Great, the Christian emperor; indeed, more than 20 other bronze equestrian statues of various emperors and generals had been melted down since the end of the Imperial Roman era. It has been speculated that its misidentification stems from the prior existence of an equestrian statue of Constantine which had stood beside the Arch of Septimius Severus, and which had been most likely taken on the orders of the emperor Constant II during his visit to Rome in 663. With its removal, the people eventually mistakenly identified Marcus Aurelius's statue for Constantine's.

 

 

Open image in slideshow, Beautiful, Antique, reproduction from the late 18th century or early 19th century , in gilded bronze, of the horse's head from the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius on the Capitoline Hill, Rome, Italy
Open image in slideshow, Beautiful, Antique, reproduction from the late 18th century or early 19th century , in gilded bronze, of the horse's head from the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius on the Capitoline Hill, Rome, Italy
Open image in slideshow, Beautiful, Antique, reproduction from the late 18th century or early 19th century , in gilded bronze, of the horse's head from the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius on the Capitoline Hill, Rome, Italy
Open image in slideshow, Beautiful, Antique, reproduction from the late 18th century or early 19th century , in gilded bronze, of the horse's head from the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius on the Capitoline Hill, Rome, Italy
Open image in slideshow, Beautiful, Antique, reproduction from the late 18th century or early 19th century , in gilded bronze, of the horse's head from the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius on the Capitoline Hill, Rome, Italy
Open image in slideshow, Beautiful, Antique, reproduction from the late 18th century or early 19th century , in gilded bronze, of the horse's head from the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius on the Capitoline Hill, Rome, Italy
Open image in slideshow, Beautiful, Antique, reproduction from the late 18th century or early 19th century , in gilded bronze, of the horse's head from the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius on the Capitoline Hill, Rome, Italy
Open image in slideshow, Beautiful, Antique, reproduction from the late 18th century or early 19th century , in gilded bronze, of the horse's head from the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius on the Capitoline Hill, Rome, Italy