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  • image M689

A colossal left hand from the statue of a major male dvinity or Emperor, pair with Soane M691

Roman Empire

Pentelic marble

Length: 13cm
Width (back of hand): 20cm

Museum number: M689

Vermeule catalogue number: Vermeule 395help-vermeule-catalogue-number

On display: Colonnade - central aisle
All spaces are in No. 13 Lincoln's Inn Fields unless identified as in No. 12, Soane's first house. For tours https://www.soane.org/your-visit

Curatorial note

This hand and Soane M691 (Vermeule 396), are the left and right hands from the same statue. The left was open and extended, therefore the arm was probably lowered; the right was closed about a round object the thickness of a sceptre-staff or spear, and the angle indicates that it was raised in order that the object might be held vertically. A pose such as this suggests a standing or seated statue of a major male divinity or an Imperial personage, probably an Emperor.

Provenance help-art-provenance

Unrecorded (is one of a pair of hands from the same statue which presumably entered Soane's collection together: see Vermeule 396)


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