STATUETTE OF APOLLO OR BACCHUS Bronze with a brown patina tinged with green, eyes inlaid with silver H. 19.7 cm without the base H. 25 cm with the base Roman art, 2nd–3rd century AD Provenance Private collection, Belgium (Mr Ph. M., born 1947, Brussels), by inheritance, 2022. Declared earlier provenance: Mr Ph. M.’s grandfather, Paris, 19th century (purchase or transmission unknown), then passed down through the family. A search by the Art Loss Register dated 19 April 2023 (ref. S00228x) accompanies the object. Bronze statuette depicting a naked ephebe, standing in contrapposto, his head turned and slightly inclined. His curly hair falls in locks over his shoulders — a hairstyle characteristic of Dionysus. The right arm is outstretched, the hand open with the palm facing upwards, in a gesture of offering or libation; the left arm is raised, the hand making a gesture, perhaps intended to hold an attribute now lost (a thyrsus or kantharos). The eyes are inlaid with silver, a mark of quality on Roman bronzes. The patina is brown, with green hues (cuprite and malachite). The figure is mounted on a cylindrical plinth of veined red marble resting on a moulded plinth. Comparison For a comparable example of a Roman statuette of Bacchus, see the silver-plated statuette of Bacchus held in the collections of the Antikensammlung, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (Fig. 1).