An inscription reading ΠΕΡΔΙΚ along the hem of this man’s mantle may identify him as Perdikkas, a youth who had neglected to sacrifice to Aphrodite while studying in Athens. As retribution, the vengeful goddess cursed him with a love for his own mother, which caused him to waste away. Such bodily afflictions appear frequently as punishments in ancient mythology and literature.
Provenance
Said to have been found in the Aisne River, near Soissons, France. By 1844, collection of the Vicomte de Jessaint (1764–1853), Beaulieu, Trannes, France; by 1874, collection of Frances Cook (1871–1901), London and Richmond Hill, Surrey, England; by inheritance to his son, Wyndham Francis Cook (1860–1905); by inheritance to his widow, Frederica Evelyn Stilwell Cook (1856–1925), London; sold at Christie’s, London, Cook Collection Sale (lot no. 32), August 1925; purchased at Christie’s by Joseph Brummer (1883–1947); Brummer Gallery, New York and Paris (inventory P2344); purchased from Brummer Gallery by Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, DC, August 1947.
Selected Bibliography
G. M. A. Richter, Catalogue of Greek and Roman Antiquities in the Dumbarton Oaks Collection (Cambridge, MA, 1956), 32–35, no. 17, plate 14.
S. Hemingway and C. Picón, eds., Pergamon and the Hellenistic Kingdoms of the Ancient World (New York, 2016), 163, no. 73.
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