Descrizione
- 309
- Leg, fragment
- 2nd-3rd c. AD
- White marble, fine-grained.
- L.. 22.5 cm; w at bulge of the calf, 11.8 cm Top break: l. 10.55 cm w. 9 cm; lower break l. 9.7 cm, w. 8.3 cm.
- Broken at both ends. Stained with brown discolouration in an evenly edged stripe running up the inner leg and into most of the lower break, where the fragment had settled onto its flattest side (plane formed by shin bone and calf muscle). Worn, pitted, occasional tree-root marks, and a few shallow surface lesions.
- Fragment of a male lower right leg, extending from just under the kneecap to a point just below the strongly marked swell of the calf muscle. The heft of the muscle shows that it is from a male figure - probably standing loosely at rest, and probably life-sized
- The nakedness of the lower leg means that the original figure was either a heroised human (historical or mythic), a genre figure of athletic type, or non-human (divine). This fragment may have come from a male military portrait, whose bare legs would have been visible above his boots. It comes from the fill of the ‘imperial stair’ at the winery, the same context as S 4. It is therefore tempting to associate the leg with the head. The strong and fleshy treatment would not be at odds with the style of the portrait, even though , full-body portraits in private contexts, as opposed to bust portraits, are relatively rare.