Statue of Seated Male

Fragmentary statue of a seated male figure. His torso is naked and muscular and he is probably of middle age. His legs are wrapped in a mantle, a Greek style himation of a volumous and distinct drapery, in some areas pulled taut and in others in billows. This type of drapery indicates that the statue is of high quality although it is difficult to identify who the seated man is. The chair with the cushion and the relatively high back can help with identification. He is most definitely a man of authority and high status but not a magistrate or an official because the chair would not have the back of 59.148.64. Bartman observed that the intellectuals, philosophers and poets were often seated on chairs with high backs or similar legs to 59.148.64. These chairs would often been unembellished. Ashmole observed that he is seated in a chair rather than a throne and must therefore be a human rather than a god. He believed that it originated from a 4th century Greek sculpture made in Asia Minor. Bartman believes that this is a Roman copy of a Hellenistic type rather than of a Greek origin as suggested by other researchers and justified by the connection to Thomas Howard (Arundel), known to have collected sculpture from agents in Athens and Constantinople in the 17th century. The round cut in its stomach is from the ring attached to it by the sailors who used the statue as a mooring point while it was found in the Thames.