What material are most antique busts?

Bronze and marble lead and are almost level with each other, at 133 and 128 titles out of 532 on Sellingantiques. Plaster and alabaster make up a substantial second tier. Terracotta, parian, wood and stone appear in smaller numbers, and serpentine, malachite, granite, sandstone, copper, cast iron, basalt and glass paste each turn up only once or twice.

Why are so many dated just 19th century?

Because that is how the category files itself. The dated field runs 1750 to 1950, 288 listings carry a clean year, and the single largest bucket is the unspecific '19th Century' at 161. The same imprecision shows in titles, where '19th', 'c19th' and '19thc' are all in use. Decade buckets, where they exist, cluster from the 1860s to the 1930s.

What is a Grand Tour bust?

A souvenir brought home from Italy, commonly a bronze or alabaster reduction of a celebrated antique head. Forty-two titles use the term. They often come as matched pairs, Antinous and Ariadne or Apollo and Diana, and the same pairings recur across several different dealers.

Which subjects appear most often?

Classical figures dominate. Apollo appears in sixteen titles, Diana in fourteen and Venus in eleven, alongside Ajax, Menelaus and Antinous. Napoleon leads the named portraits at thirteen, with Shakespeare, Dante, Byron, Homer and Queen Victoria recurring. Library plaster brings in Augustus, Walter Scott and Hippocrates.

Are antique busts signed?

Some are. 'Signed' appears in twenty-nine titles, roughly one in twenty, and named sculptors show up far more often in the upper part of the range than the lower. Where a sculptor is recorded, it is as a signature on the piece or as an attribution. Foundry marks and edition numbers are not something the listings record.

How many busts come up in a year?

Around sixty-six a year, spread across 156 dealers, so no one dealer sets the tone of the category. That spread is why the same subjects recur from different sources, and why matched Grand Tour pairs show up under several names.

Home > Sculptures > Busts > Page 5

Antique Busts

189 items · page 5 of 12

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A bust is head-and-shoulders sculpture, made to commemorate a person or to carry a famous classical head into a hall, a library or a drawing room.

19th century

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Grecian Female Bronze Head Sculpture

From The Real Wood Furniture Company

£2,250

FOR SALE

sculptures

1900 - 1920

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Large Art Nouveau Bust After Villanis

From Willows Antiques and Interiors

£1,250

FOR SALE

sculptures

1900 - 1920

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Marble Library Bust of a Young Boy

From Terrier Antiques at Hebden Bridge

£425

FOR SALE

sculptures

A Beautiful Finally Carved Signed Pear Wood Head of an Old Woman, by Hermann Steiner Meran. 1878-1963.

1900 - 1920

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A Beautiful Finally Carved Signed Pear Wood Head of an Old Woman, by Hermann Steiner Meran. 1878-1963.

From Koos Limburg Jnr. Scotland

£2,250

FOR SALE

sculptures

19th century

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Antique Pair Italian Marble Profile Plaques of Virgil & Dante 19th Century

From Regent Antiques

£1,250

FOR SALE

sculptures

1900 - 1920

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Large Alabaster Bust of a Woman C.1900

From Collinge Antiques

£795

FOR SALE

sculptures

C. 1900, Bronze Bust of Dante Alighieri on Marble Base (Italian)

1900 - 1920

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C. 1900, Bronze Bust of Dante Alighieri on Marble Base (Italian)

From White Space Antiques

£420

FOR SALE

sculptures

1914, Giuseppe Moretti, Bronze Bust of a Bearded Gentleman (Italian)

1900 - 1920

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1914, Giuseppe Moretti, Bronze Bust of a Bearded Gentleman (Italian)

From White Space Antiques

£550

FOR SALE

sculptures

Antique Bronze Bust of a 1920s South American Man 63cm High

1900 - 1920

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Antique Bronze Bust of a 1920s South American Man 63cm High

From Robert Belcher Antiques

£2,450

FOR SALE

sculptures

19th century

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Fine Quality Early 19th Century French Bronze Bust of Napoleon on Marble Base

From LVS Decorative Arts

£2,250

FOR SALE

sculptures

The most expensive bust ever sold on Sellingantiques was an 18th century Italian carved marble of the Roman emperor Septimius Severus, in October 2024.

19th century

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Horse Head Cast Iron Hitching Post

From The Real Wood Furniture Company

£1,250

FOR SALE

sculptures

Large Exceptional Bronze Sculpture Cleopatra Egyptian Revival with Marble Stand

1940 - 1960

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Large Exceptional Bronze Sculpture Cleopatra Egyptian Revival with Marble Stand

From Artsonline

£1,550

FOR SALE

sculptures

19th century

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19th Century Walnut Carved Study of a Monk Circa 1890

From Robert Belcher Antiques

£1,295

FOR SALE

sculptures

C. 1890, George Minne, Patinated Bronze Bust of Jesus Christ (Belgian)

19th century

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C. 1890, George Minne, Patinated Bronze Bust of Jesus Christ (Belgian)

From White Space Antiques

£520

FOR SALE

sculptures

Folk Art Yew Burr Sculpture Carved Human Form Life Size

19th century

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Folk Art Yew Burr Sculpture Carved Human Form Life Size

From The Real Wood Furniture Company

£6,400

FOR SALE

sculptures

19th century

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Marble Portrait Bust of a Gentleman

From Shackladys Antiques

£1,295

FOR SALE

sculptures

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Antique Busts

Grecian Female Bronze Head Sculpture

Large Art Nouveau Bust After Villanis

Marble Library Bust of a Young Boy

A Beautiful Finally Carved Signed Pear Wood Head of an Old Woman, by Hermann Steiner Meran. 1878-1963.

Antique Pair Italian Marble Profile Plaques of Virgil & Dante 19th Century

Large Alabaster Bust of a Woman C.1900

C. 1900, Bronze Bust of Dante Alighieri on Marble Base (Italian)

1914, Giuseppe Moretti, Bronze Bust of a Bearded Gentleman (Italian)

Antique Bronze Bust of a 1920s South American Man 63cm High

Fine Quality Early 19th Century French Bronze Bust of Napoleon on Marble Base

Horse Head Cast Iron Hitching Post

Large Exceptional Bronze Sculpture Cleopatra Egyptian Revival with Marble Stand

19th Century Walnut Carved Study of a Monk Circa 1890

C. 1890, George Minne, Patinated Bronze Bust of Jesus Christ (Belgian)

Folk Art Yew Burr Sculpture Carved Human Form Life Size

Marble Portrait Bust of a Gentleman

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