Roman Marble Bust Sells for $23.8 million at Sotheby's
Last night at Sotheby’s, A Marble Portrait Bust of the Deified Antinous, Roman Imperial, Reign of Hadrian, Circa A.D. 130-138 sold for $23,826,500, many multiples of the high estimate (est. $2/3million). The bust led the auction of Antiquities from the Collection of the Late Clarence Day, known as one of the finest private collections of Antiquities in the United States. The ‘white glove’ sale achieved a total of $36,769,250, far exceeding the high estimate (overall est. $5.7/8.6 million). Proceeds from the sale will benefit the charitable foundation established by Mr. Day.
The Marble Portrait Bust of the Deified Antinous is the only known Classical representation of Antinous, outside of his coin portraits, to be identified by an inscription. Auctioneer Hugh Hildesley opened the bidding at $900,000 and two clients in the room and one on the phone began to battle. The winning bidder, a European collector, entered the fray at $6.5 million and prevailed against the three existing bidders and another client who only joined the competition at $11.2 million. In all, it took more than eleven minutes for the lot to sell and when the hammer finally fell the room broke out in applause.
