Roman Female Draped Fragment, probably the Muse Klio

From the waist down, contrapposta legs, covered in a cloak
Marble
Ancient Roman, 2nd Century AD

Provenance:
Private Collection Germany
Sold 5 II 1994 by Galleria Serodine to Dr G. Schnetzer (Zürich)
Sold 21 IV 2011 by Bernd Gackstätter (Antiken Kabinett)
(Frankfurt am Main)
ALR: S00248440


H 48 x W 26 x D 19 cm
H 18 7/8 x W 10 1/4 x D 7 1/2 inch


Fine crystalline marble with calcite deposits on some parts.
Fragment of the lower body with a broken edge at the hip area. The front parts of the feet, a small part of the right side of the left foot, a smaller part of the left thigh and knee, as well as larger parts of the cloak on the right side of the fragment, are broken off. Traces of a reddish-brown coloring (?) can still be observed on the cloak. Exceptionally high-quality in its artistic and technical execution.

The fragment of a frontally oriented statue depicts a female figure, shown smaller than life-size, standing upright, placing her left leg directly in front of her right supporting leg. The figure is wearing footwear and is draped in a cloak that she has wrapped around her hips. The fabric of the cloak has wrapped around the ankle of the left foot and, due to the positioning of the left leg, has been drawn to her right side. The stance and body shapes of the standing figure are excellently highlighted by the differently rendered folds of the cloak, lending the depiction a pronounced dynamism despite the lack of movement. Deep and undercut folds alternate with those articulated flatly, angularly, and almost only in relief. Further attesting to the statue's above-average quality is the meticulous execution of the back side.

The statue was probably not monolithic but made from two blocks, as suggested by the roughly chiseled, bowl-like indentation at the current break edge. Despite the statue's incomplete condition, the depiction can be confidently identified as Clio, one of the nine Muses, based on its specific posture and attire. Clio, responsible for the muses of rhetoric and history, is typically depicted holding a scroll. Hence, it is likely that the statue originally held such an attribute. Depictions of Clio were popular in the Roman cultural sphere, both in private household contexts and in sepulchral (funerary) settings. In both cases, they served to reference the Roman ideal of education, or to postulate a corresponding level of education for the owner of the house or grave.