Mercury; Rome, Imperial period, 1st-3rd century... Lot 31

Mercury; Rome, Imperial period, 1st-3rd century AD. Lead filled bronze. Measurements: 16 x 11 x 5.5 cm. Roman bust from the Imperial period which represents a toga-ed male bust, on whose head we can see a hinged applique which allowed lead to be poured inside to create the weight. The curly hair and youthfulness of the personage suggest the figure of Mercury. In Roman mythology, Mercury, son of Jupiter and Maia Maiestas, was an important god of commerce. In his earliest forms he is related to the Etruscan deity Turms, but his characteristics and mythology are borrowed from the analogous Greek god Hermes. He had essentially the same aspects as Hermes, wearing the thalarias and the winged pettasus, and carrying the caduceus, a herald's staff with two intertwined serpents that Apollo gave to Hermes. He was often accompanied by a cock, a goat or lamb, symbolising fertility, and a tortoise, alluding to Mercury's legendary invention of the lyre from a shell.