Statuette of seated Plato
- Title:
- Statuette of seated Plato
- Collection:
- Cornell Cast Collection
- Creator:
- Ecole des Beaux-Arts (French repository, Paris, contemporary) (reproduction)
Unknown (Silanion?) (original)
- Photographer:
- Mericle, Danielle
- Date:
- ca. 1890-1900
(Roman copy)
3rd c. BCE (Greek original)
- Site:
- Paris, France (reproduction)
Unknown (original) - Location:
- Goldwin Smith Hall (Ground floor showcase), Cornell University
Paris, France (reproduction)
Unknown (original) - ID Number:
- CCC_0326
- Accession Number:
- Sage no. 306
567. in relief on seat
326 - File Name:
- CCC_0326.tif
- Original Measurements:
- 50.5 (H) cm
- Culture:
- Roman, after Hellenistic
- Style/Period:
- Roman Imperial, after Hellenistic Greek
- Work Type:
- casts (sculpture)
- Materials/Techniques:
- plaster cast (sculpture)
marble sculpture in the round (original) - Subject:
- Plato
- Image View Type:
- overall
- Image View Description:
- from front
- Measurement:
- 55 (centimeters, height)
plinth: 22 x 29 (centimeters, width x diameter) - Description:
- This is a cast of a now-lost statuette of a seated man, identified by an inscription on the seat as Plato. The philosopher sits leaning back slightly with his upper body hunched and right foot advanced. He wears sandals and a himation that is draped over his left shoulder and that leaves the right side of his chest bare. Plato rests his right hand in his lap and lays an unrolled scroll on his left leg with his left hand. He turns his head to the left and looks down at the scroll. His hair is bushy and his beard is full. The findspot of this statuette is unknown. The object has long been lost--since before the middle of the nineteenth century--and is known only from casts, principally those in Bonn, Dresden, Strasbourg, Leipzig, and Karlsruhe. The statuette was heavily restored and it is difficult to determine precisely what is and is not original, although the head certainly does not belong. An incuse circle on the left (viewer's) side of the seat indicates that the cast is from the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris.
- Notes:
- Items in the Cornell Cast Collection are meant for inventory and reference purposes. Metadata may not be complete in all cases.
- Bibliography:
- J. Overbeck, Die Archäologische Sammlung der Universität Leipzig (Leipzig 1859), 101, no. 97
Gisela Richter, The Portraits of the Greeks, vol. II (London: Phaidon Press, 1965), 165-168, esp. 167, fig. 960
École Nationale et Spéciale des Beaux-Arts. Atelier du Moulage. Catalogue des Moulages provenant des Monuments, Musées, Collections, etc. (Paris, 1881), 3, no. 567 - Repository:
- Cornell University (current)
Unknown (original) - Collecting Program:
- Cornell Collections of Antiquities
- Format:
- Image
- Rights:
- The images in the Cornell Collection of Antiquities: Casts are protected by copyright, and the copyright holders are their creators, generally Cornell University Library, Annetta Alexandridis, and Verity Platt. This collection of plaster casts owned by Cornell University was photographed by Cornell University Library, Alexandridis, Platt, and Andreya L. Mihaloew from 2010-2015, with funding from a Digital Collections in Arts and Sciences Grant to Annetta Alexandridis. Cornell is providing access to the materials for research and personal use. The written permission of any copyright and other rights holders is required for distribution, reproduction, or other use that extends beyond what is authorized by fair use and other statutory exemptions. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item and securing any necessary permissions ultimately rests with persons desiring to use the item. Please contact Annetta Alexandridis and Verity Platt for more information about this collection, or to request permission to use these images.