Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XXIII 24-25 Mar 2022
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Hadrian AV Aureus. Rome, AD 120-121. IMP CAESAR TRAIAN HADRIANVS AVG, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust to right / P M TR P COS III, Mars standing facing, wearing full armour, holding spear and resting shield on ground. RIC II.3 319; C. 1071; BMCRE 109; Strack 94; Biaggi 634; Calicó 1312. 7.29g, 20mm, 6h.
Good Extremely Fine. Scarce.
From the Pinewood Collection.
The reverse of this coin depicts a highly sculptural image of Mars, the style and composition of which evokes the statuary of Classical Greece, particularly that of renowned sculptors Polykleitos and Lysippos. Mars' contrapposto stance is distinctly reminiscent of Polykleitos' Doryphoros, the spear-bearer, thought to have been cast circa 440 BC and arguably the definitive archetype of the Classical ideal; despite the position of Mars' arms being slightly different, he is otherwise a mirror for Polykleitos' heroic figure. His lean physique, however, is perhaps more comparable to later works by Lysippos, who was working in the early 4th Century BC and has been characterised as producing more slender, elegant figures creating the impression of unnatural height, as exemplified by his Victorious Youth. This image of Mars depicted on the present aureus neatly embodies the paradigms of the male form established 500 years earlier, and it is not hard to imagine that it may represent a now lost statue of the god.
Good Extremely Fine. Scarce.
From the Pinewood Collection.
The reverse of this coin depicts a highly sculptural image of Mars, the style and composition of which evokes the statuary of Classical Greece, particularly that of renowned sculptors Polykleitos and Lysippos. Mars' contrapposto stance is distinctly reminiscent of Polykleitos' Doryphoros, the spear-bearer, thought to have been cast circa 440 BC and arguably the definitive archetype of the Classical ideal; despite the position of Mars' arms being slightly different, he is otherwise a mirror for Polykleitos' heroic figure. His lean physique, however, is perhaps more comparable to later works by Lysippos, who was working in the early 4th Century BC and has been characterised as producing more slender, elegant figures creating the impression of unnatural height, as exemplified by his Victorious Youth. This image of Mars depicted on the present aureus neatly embodies the paradigms of the male form established 500 years earlier, and it is not hard to imagine that it may represent a now lost statue of the god.