Hellenistic Bronze Dadophoros Statuette 1st Century BC- 1st Century AD

Description

A late Hellenistic or early Roman bronze figure of a standing dadophoros, a young torch bearer, wrapped in mandyas (Macedonian cavalry cloak), with naturalistic facial features, wearing a kausia (flat hat) on his head; the lower part of the socle base hollow for the insertion of a torch or candle. See Sekunda, N., Seleucid and Ptolemaic reformed armies 168-145 BC, volume 1, Stockport, 1994; Sekunda, N., Seleucid and Ptolemaic reformed armies 168-145 BC, volume 2, Stockport, 1995; Sekunda, N., Macedonian Army after Alexander, 323-168 BC, London, 2018; Janssen, E., Die Kausia, symbolic und Function der makedonischen Kleidung, Göttingen, 2007; see Janssen, pls.22-30, 32-37, 40, for parallels; see also the Metropolitan Museum, accession number 74.51.2701, for a similar statuette of a boy in kausia. 174 grams, 10cm (4″). From the collection of a Surrey gentleman; acquired 1970-1980; accompanied by an archaeological expertise by Dr. Raffaele D’Amato; this lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and has AIAD certificate number no.10404-170223. Statuettes of this type often represented small boys dressed in Macedonian military costume and were used as candlesticks to light household shrines. The cap (kausia) was typical of Hellenistic military dress and had been worn by cavalrymen since Alexander’s campaigns of the 4th century BC.