DiscussionHeadless togate portrait statue. Alexandria (Aegyptus). Third to early fourth century. DESCRIPTION (Object)White marble, H 130 cm. The head is broken at the neck, and the left forearm is broken. The statue was worked from one block with plinth and head. The statue stands over its left leg; the right foot is turned outwards. The left shoulder is higher than the right; the figure bends slightly over its right hip. The large masses of the garment are arranged into long parallel folds; the areas in between are covered by irregular small folds. PROVENANCE AND CURRENT LOCATION The statue was found in the modern quarter of Sidi Gaber, on the seashore east of the ancient city (Tkaczow 1993 plan II). This is the area of the so-called legionary cemetery west of the castrum ( on castrum see Tkaczow 1993, 174-5 site no. 143 and map A). It is now in the Graeco-Roman Museum at Alexandria, inv. no. 3902. DESCRIPTION (Subject) The depicted wears a tunic and a long toga of the Augustan type with umbo; his feet are clad in strapped shoes (senatorial calcei, the horizontal stripes (corrigiae) visible on the left leg). The balteus sits high below the breast (usually on the hips). The portrayed grabs the seam of the toga with his right hand; the left arm is bent in the elbow and the hand was stretched forward. On his left leg stands a receptacle for papyrus rolls on which a bundle of scrolls (rotuli) is placed. The dress, particularly the footwear, characterizes the portrayed as a man of senatorial rank. The receptacle and scroll bundle at the left foot are attributes of education and/ or office. The gesture of the right hand spreads the edge of the toga where the purple stripe of the magistrate was fixed; it thereby increases the representative effect of the garment. The gesture has been associated with the magistrate’s procession (Wrede 2001, 71-2). It has been observed on toga statues from the mid-2nd century onwards (Goette 1990, 49-50). DATE Graindor 1938, 106 was so upset about the poor quality of the statue that he thought it could not be older than from the 4th century (‘... la médiocrité de cette oeuvre lourde et conventionelle ne permettent guère de lui assigner une date antérieur au IVe siècle’). The statue was dated to the tetrarchic period by Goette 1990 who compared the bulky shape and the schematic arrangement of the folds with the porphyry togates of that period (LSA-455, LSA-1003, LSA-1004). Bergmann 1977 who first remarked the coherency of style of the tetrarchic porphyry works from Alexandria and Egyptian marble works of the imperial period (Bergmann 1977, 168-70) pointed out that this tradition starts well ahead of the tetrarchic period. She dated our togate statue to the 3rd century. Tkaczow 1993 dated to the imperial period in general. The same gesture and a similar arrangement of the folds as on our statue reappear on a togate in Naples which can be dated to the earlier/mid-3rd century by its portrait head (Goette 1990 pl. 26,4). Strikingly similar in type and style, moreover, is a togate in Ostia which can be dated to the late 3rd/ early 4th century (LSA-1082; on date see Gehn 2012, 490-7 cat. no. W 2). The unusually high balteus reoccurs on the seated togate in Alexandria LSA-1003. In my view, the stylistic and typological features of our statue make a date in the tetrarchic period well possible; a date earlier in the 3rd century, however, can not be excluded. Main ReferenceGraindor, P., Bustes et statues-portraits d'Égypte romaine, Cairo 1937, 105-106, no. 49, pl. 42aTkaczow, B., The topography of ancient Alexandria (An archaeological map), Warsaw 1993, 257 no. 195 Discussion ReferencesBergmann, M., Studien zum römischen Porträt des 3. Jahrhunderts n. Chr., Bonn 1977, Gehn, U., Ehrenstatuen in der Spätantike. Chlamydati und Togati, Wiesbaden 2012, Goette, H.R., Studien zu römischen Togadarstellungen, Mainz 1990, 53; 140, no. Bb 181, pl. 27.4 Wrede, H., Senatorische Sarkophage Roms: der Beitrag des Senatorenstandes zur römischen Kunst der hohen und späten Kaiserzeit, Mainz 2001, |
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