The summer has seemed very gloomy here in London, but with better weather forecast for the weekend, Covid restrictions being lifted still further and August on the horizon, there’s a feeling of moving into the light, rather like this tall, slender-bodied votary, which we sold to the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, Leiden in 2018.
Cypriot figure of a male votary,
c.6th century BC
Limestone
Height 56.5cm
Provenance:
Ann Brunskill, Kent, UK; acquired 1968
Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, Leiden, the Netherlands; acquired from Charles Ede in 2018, inventory number I 2018/3.1
Published:
Sotheby’s, London, UK, Antiquities, 20th May 1968, lot 149
The youthful figure, crowned with a foliate wreath, is shown striding forward, his left leg advanced, head held high and gazing straight ahead with the typical ‘archaic’ smile playing across his face; long locks of hair fall over his shoulders. He is dressed in a close-fitting shift, the lower half pleated and revealing his left knee, a mantle over his left shoulder is drawn across his body. He wears two spiral armlets clasped above his elbows. Unrestored.
