Lot 75. A Roman marble torso of Polykleitos'"Dresden Youth", circa first quarter of the 1st century A.D.; 26 3/8 in. (67 cm.) high. Estimate GBP 100,000 - GBP 150,000 (USD 127,300 - USD 190,950). © Christie's Images Ltd 2017
Provenance: Elsa Bloch-Diener collection, Bern, acquired prior to 1988.
Exhibited: Museum Alter Plastik, Frankfurt am Main, October 1990 - January 1991.
Published: D. Willers, 'Altes und Neues zum Dresdeber Knaben,' in Festschrift für Nikolaus Himmelmann, Mainz am Rhein, 1989, pp. 135-137, pls. 1-4.
H. Beck et al., Polyklet, Der Bildhauer der griechischen Klassik (exhibition cat.), Frankfurt, 1990, pp. 596-597, no. 118.
Note: Polykleitos was one of the most famous and influential Greek sculptors of the High Classical Period. A native of Argos in the Peloponnesus, his artistic career flourished circa 460-420 B.C. The Roman writer Pliny tells us that Polykleitos wrote about his theories of rhythm and proportion. This sculptural Canon emphasized the juxtaposition of antithetical pairs, such as right and left, straight and curved, relaxed and tensed, rest and movement.
None of the master's original works are known to have survived, but several are recognized in Roman copies such as this beautiful torso of the Dresden Youth type.
According to art historian P. Zanker, Polykleitan works can be divided into three categories based on different age groups in athletic contests: the pais, the ephebe and the neos. The Dresden Youth type falls into the ephebe category, together with the Westmacott type, whilst the neos group includes other universally known types such as the Doryphoros or Spear-bearer and the Diskophoros or Discus-Bearer.
The type was named after another Roman marble copy now in the collection of the Dresden Museum, cf. inv. no. Hm 088, also dated to the 1st quarter of the 1st Century A.D.
Christie's. Antiquities, 5 July 2017, London, King Street
