BUST OF PETER THE GREAT

Creator(s): Unknown (Sculptor)

On view in: Pavilion

About this object

The bust depicts Peter the Great of Russia looking forward and slightly to his right. He is shown in a classical mode with unusually short hair styled like that of the Caesars and in a pseudo-Roman armor of a muscle cuirass and two prominent pteruges (the leather strips that protected the shoulders or the area below the waist.) On the pteruges are depicted two mermen-like creatures. (They are not full Tritons or mermen because only their legs below the knee become fishtails.) The figures themselves seem based on archaic kouroi in profile and facing outward, a seemingly atypical model for eighteenth- or nineteenth-century sculptors. In the center of the cuirass is what seems to be another composite creature-a gorgon's grinning head surrounded by the wings of cherubim. Might this odd admixture indicate a non-Russian authorship? The bust has been set on a base that may have been made later, although the varieties of marble are virtually identical. The base has a double meander pattern. The rectangular base has an inscription on each of three sides, one in Greek (ANO KATEBEN, translated as "In my going down, I went up") and two in English (PETER THE GREAT and CZAR OF MUSCOVY).

Object name:

BUST OF PETER THE GREAT

Made from:

Marble

Made in:

England

Date made:

late 17th-mid 18th Century

Size:

73.7 cm (29 in.)

Detailed information for this item

Catalog number:

22.13

Class:

STONE

Signature marks:

INSCRIPTION PETER THE GREAT [On base, left panel, in all caps] INSCRIPTION ΑΝΩ ΚΑΤΕΒΗΝ / ANO KATEBEN [transliterated] [On base, front panel, in Greek.] Translation: "In my going down I went up". This probably refers to Peter's activity as an ordinary laborer in a shipyard in England which gave him the knowledge to build a powerful national navy. This Greek motto is probably not a quotation from a classical source, but made up for the occasion. INSCRIPTION CZAR OF MUSCOVY [On base, right panel, in all caps.] LABEL 705/T [On back, in ink]

Credit line:

Bequest of Marjorie Merriweather Post, 1973