A marble bust has sold for a heady $23.8 million at a Sotheby’s New York antiquities auction yesterday. The “Marble Portrait Bust of the Deified Antinous, Roman Imperial, Reign of Hadrian,” circa A.D. 130-138, was the focus of a spirited 11-minute competition between five collectors who vied for the prize, rocketing the price above its $3 million high estimate.
The bust was part of the antiquities collection of the late Clarence Day. Two other highlights at the sale were a green Porphyry figure of an Egyptian Royal Sphinx, which snagged $5.2 million, and an Egyptian Polychrome Limestone Ushabti Of Djehuty-Mose (Tothmes), 1292-1190 B.C., which sold $1,314,500. Each sold for more than four times estimates. Total proceeds for the auction, in which every lot sold, were an impressive $36.7 million, almost five times the highest estimates.
Read more at Reuters.
