Fragment Of A Statuette Depicting A Hand Resting On A Hermaic Head, Made Of Ancient Marble; Greco-roman Art

Fragment of a statuette: hand resting on a hermaic head

Greco-Roman art
Greece, Hellenistic or early Roman period, 2nd–1st century BCE
White marble: 5.5 cm
with base: 9.5 cm

A carved fragment depicting a hand delicately resting on the head of a small frontal figure, likely a herma or a terme. The supple modeling of the fingers contrasts with the hieratic frontality of the head, whose features—deliberately schematic at this scale—lend the work as a whole a remarkable expressive intensity. This contrast between the lively gesture of the hand and the figure’s almost votive stillness produces a composition of rare sculptural quality.

The fragment belongs to a larger sculpture, in which the herma likely served both a structural and iconographic function, following a pattern well attested in Greco-Roman statuary.

Beautiful antique surface, with even erosion, retaining a natural patina.

Provenance: former French private collection; acquired at public auction

Through the restraint of its formal vocabulary and the silent poetry of the suspended gesture, this fragment possesses a sculptural presence that far exceeds its size, illustrating with a rare economy of means the ancient art of suggesting life.