Groupe de Mercure

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This statuette adopts all the codes of classical Greek and Roman Mercury, although its association with a rooster and a goat in the same group is more properly Gaulish.\nMercury is depicted nude, his mantle thrown over his shoulder. He is capped with an winged petasus and shod in sandals. He carries his customary attributes: a purse full of coins and holds a caduceus.\nThe Mercury of Dax presents the characteristic hunchbacked stance of classical representation of male beauty. The anatomical correctness, volumes, and finely rendered modeling of this body contrast with certain parts that are disproportionate, especially the overly large right hand, with awkward modeling. The stylistic details of the statuette allow defining this production as being Italian, from the early decades of the Roman Empire, under the reigns of Augustus or Tiberius, between 27 B.C. and 37 A.D.\nObject number: MD 88.2.8 Museum of Borda de Dax (40 - France)