Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XXII 7-8 Oct 2021
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Hadrian Æ Sestertius. Rome AD 130-138. HADRIANVS AVG COS III P P, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust to right / NILVS, bearded Nilus, naked to waist, reclining to right, leaning on rock, holding reed and cornucopia around which are two putti; to right, hippopotamus standing to left; below, crocodile in water to left; SC in exergue. RIC II.3 1704; C 998; cf. Hill, Monuments 148; BMCRE 1769. 26.52g, 31mm, 12h.
Good Very Fine; attractive brown patina. Very Rare.
From a private UK collection.
This very rare reverse type of the reclining personification of the Nile with children celebrated Hadrian's visit to Egypt in AD 130 and 131. It is likely inspired by a magnificent Alexandrian statue group of the 2nd or 1st centuries BC, a Roman copy of which was found in the temple of Isis in Rome in 1513, together with the Tiber, now in the Louvre. It is possible that the modified design of the above type could have been taken from a different model, such as the statue which adorned the baths of Constantine and is now below the outside staircase of the Senatorial Palace on the Campidoglio. However it is likely that both versions of the type copied the statue now in the Vatican Museums, cf. Hill, Monuments fig. 148A.
Good Very Fine; attractive brown patina. Very Rare.
From a private UK collection.
This very rare reverse type of the reclining personification of the Nile with children celebrated Hadrian's visit to Egypt in AD 130 and 131. It is likely inspired by a magnificent Alexandrian statue group of the 2nd or 1st centuries BC, a Roman copy of which was found in the temple of Isis in Rome in 1513, together with the Tiber, now in the Louvre. It is possible that the modified design of the above type could have been taken from a different model, such as the statue which adorned the baths of Constantine and is now below the outside staircase of the Senatorial Palace on the Campidoglio. However it is likely that both versions of the type copied the statue now in the Vatican Museums, cf. Hill, Monuments fig. 148A.