---
title: Mitoraj Asclépios (1988) — Kúpa a predaj | Súkromný zberateľ
description: Mitoraj Asclépios (1988) — bronzové torzo gréckeho boha liečenia, edícia 1000, Pietrasanta. Spoločník Persée.
canonical: https://mitoraj-search.com/sk/mitoraj-asclepios.html
language: sk
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
credit: mitoraj-search.com
---

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# Igor Mitoraj — Asclépios

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### Artwork Facts

Artwork

Asclépios

Artist

Igor Mitoraj (1944–2014)

Medium

Bronze, patinated

Year

1988

Edition

1000 + HC (Pietrasanta)

Companion

Persée (1988, Ed. 1000)

Signature

MITORAJ incised, n/1000 on reverse

![Asclépios — Igor Mitoraj, green patina bronze torso, companion to Persée](/images/mitoraj-asclepios-new.webp)

The **Asclépios** is one of Igor Mitoraj's most significant bronze compositions — the bronze torso of the Greek god of healing, created in 1988 as the companion work to [Persée](/mitoraj-persee.html). Together the two heads form Mitoraj's clearest statement about the dual nature of classical culture: the warrior and the healer, force and care, the wound and what closes it. Both are editions of 1000, cast in Pietrasanta, signed MITORAJ.

## About the Asclépios

Asclepius — son of Apollo, god of medicine and healing, identified by the serpent-entwined staff that later became the modern medical symbol — was a deliberate counterweight in Mitoraj's 1988 programme. After spending the early 1980s on warrior subjects (the helmeted Centurione I and II, the cracked Tindaro Screpolato), Mitoraj turned to the figure who repairs rather than wounds. The Asclépios torso carries the same fragmented anatomy as the Persée — neck stump, missing arms, characteristic rectangular insets on the chest — but the surface is softer, the modelling less martial.

The 1988 edition was cast at Pietrasanta — by 1988 Mitoraj had established his permanent studio there and was working with the major Italian foundries (Fonderia Mariani, Del Chiaro). The Persée and Asclépios bronzes were released together, paired in many collector presentations, and both achieved an edition size of 1000 examples plus a small number of artist's proofs (HC). This made them the two most widely distributed of Mitoraj's mature bronzes — present in private collections across France, Italy, Germany, Poland and the United Kingdom.

The Asclépios is signed **MITORAJ** in capitals (the standard form Mitoraj used from the mid-1980s onwards), with the edition number n/1000 inscribed on the reverse. Three principal patina variants are documented: **warm brown** (most common, matching the standard Persée patina), **green-bronze** (oxidised, antique-style finish), and **dark / black-brown** (a deeper variant seen on a smaller subset of the edition).

## Dimensions & Condition

Height approximately **40–50 cm** in the standard edition, on a separate stone (typically travertine) or bronze base. The torso is truncated at the neck, with no arms; the characteristic Mitoraj rectangular insets appear on the chest and abdomen. Signed and numbered. Condition consideration: original patina should be deep and even; cleaning or re-patination significantly reduces value.

## Asclepius in Mitoraj's Visual World

Asclepius (Greek: Ἀσκληπιός; Latin: Aesculapius) was the son of Apollo and the mortal Coronis, raised by the centaur Chiron, and credited in Greek myth with the discovery of medicine. His emblem — a single serpent coiled around a wooden staff — survives as the modern symbol of the medical profession (and should not be confused with the caduceus of Hermes, the two-snake staff of commerce). His cult centres at Epidaurus and Kos drew the sick from across the ancient world; healing took place by dream-incubation in the temple precinct.

For Mitoraj, working in the mature phase of his career, the figure of Asclepius was both mythological and personal — a counter-image to the warriors and bound heroes that dominate his catalogue. The pairing with Persée is deliberate: Perseus, the slayer; Asclepius, the healer. Sold together, displayed together, they articulate the two faces of the classical inheritance Mitoraj spent his career working through.

## The Edition of 1000

The Asclépios edition of 1000 places it alongside the Persée (also Ed. 1000) and the Centurione II (Ed. 1500) as one of Mitoraj's most accessible mature bronzes. This is the edition tier that brought Mitoraj into widespread private collection circulation in the late 1980s and 1990s. The relative availability means clear auction comparables exist — typical hammer prices €3,000–€10,000 for the standard brown patina, with documented green-patina and dark-patina examples occasionally achieving higher results at Desa Unicum (Warsaw), Artcurial (Paris), and Christie's (Paris, London). The work sells more often than its larger, rarer counterparts (Prométhée Ed. 8, Corazza Grande Ed. 5), but no less consistently.

## If You Own an Asclépios

Please contact me directly. I respond the same day, every day. There is no pressure and no obligation. I will give you my honest assessment of the work's value, explain the market context, and — if you wish to sell — make a genuine and competitive offer. I am especially interested in pairings of the Asclépios with the Persée bronze, but acquire either work individually. Complete discretion guaranteed.

## Identifying the Asclépios

The Asclépios is a torso fragment — the body truncated at the neck with no arms, the lower edge cut just below the hips. The chest carries the characteristic Mitoraj rectangular insets (small recessed panels in the bronze surface, common to the entire 1988 series). The overall silhouette is calmer than the Persée — softer modelling, less martial musculature — reflecting the contrast Mitoraj sought between warrior and healer. The work sits on a separate stone base, typically travertine, sometimes black marble or basalt.

The signature appears as **MITORAJ** in capitals, incised on the lower edge or back of the torso. The edition number (format n/1000) is on the reverse. Some examples carry the Pietrasanta foundry mark (Fonderia Mariani / F.MARIANI, or Del Chiaro). The bronze should be heavy in hand — resin-bronze cold-cast reproductions are noticeably lighter and lack the deep, hand-applied patina. Provenance documentation (original gallery receipt, auction catalogue, certificate) significantly aids valuation but is not required for sale.

Recent auction comparables for the Asclépios include Desa Unicum (Warsaw, multiple lots 2020–2024) at €3,500–€9,000, Artcurial (Paris) at €4,000–€11,000, and Christie's (Paris) at €5,000–€10,500 — with the green-patina examples generally achieving the higher end of the range. Asclépios paired with Persée at the same sale typically achieves a small premium over the sum of individual hammer prices.

### Asclépios — Technical Characteristics

Year: 1988 · Edition: 1000 + HC · Medium: Patinated bronze · Foundry: Pietrasanta · Companion: Persée

**Patina:** warm brown (most common), green-bronze (oxidised antique finish), dark / black-brown (smaller subset)  
**Base:** marble or travertine slab (standard) · black stone documented on some later casts  
**Signature:** **MITORAJ** in capitals, incised on lower edge or reverse  
**Edition:** total of 8 · each example individually numbered on reverse  
**Binding detail:** horizontal or diagonal band element visible at torso, defining the Promethean constraint motif

## Asclépios — Collection Photographs

The following photographs document several Asclépios variants from the private collection — the green-bronze patina (the most photogenic and rarest of the three principal finishes), the warm brown patina (the standard 1988 finish), and a contextual view alongside the companion Persée bronze.

![Asclépios (1988) — Igor Mitoraj, green-bronze patina, front view on travertine plinth, private collection](/images/mitoraj-asclepios-new.webp)

**Asclépios — Green Patina, Front**1988 · Ed. 1000 · travertine base

![Asclépios (1988) — Igor Mitoraj, warm brown patina, three-quarter view showing chest and abdomen insets, private collection](/images/mitoraj-asclepios-brown.webp)

**Asclépios — Brown Patina**Standard 1988 finish · chest insets visible

![Persée and Asclépios (1988) — Igor Mitoraj, companion bronze torsos displayed together, the warrior and the healer, private collection](/images/mitoraj-persee-asclepios-duo.webp)

**Asclépios & Persée**Companion bronzes paired

## Asclépios and the Healing Motif

The Asclépios sits opposite Mitoraj's warrior figures — the helmeted [Centurione II](/mitoraj-centurione-ii.html), the cracked [Tindaro Screpolato](/mitoraj-tindaro.html), the sword-bearing [Persée](/mitoraj-persee.html) — as a deliberate counterweight. Where those works carry armour, wounds, and the iconography of combat, the Asclépios is anatomically unprotected: a torso, a healer's body, the chest insets reading as openings rather than damage. The contrast is intentional. Asclepius in Greek myth was killed by Zeus for resurrecting the dead — for healing too well — and Mitoraj makes the figure's vulnerability part of the composition.

The pairing with Persée carries this contrast forward. Perseus slew Medusa and rescued Andromeda — a hero whose actions resolve themselves through violence. Asclepius healed, taught medicine, and was punished for refusing the ordinary boundary between life and death. To own one without the other is possible. To own both is to hold Mitoraj's clearest sculptural statement about the two complementary forces classical culture pulls between — and the duo configuration is how collectors most often present these works.

## Patina Variants of the Asclépios

The Asclépios was cast in three principal patina variants. The most common is the **warm brown** patina that matches the standard Persée 1988 finish — copper-brown, slightly burnished, the canonical Mitoraj surface of this period. A smaller subset carries the **green-bronze** patina seen in the green-oxidised antique finishes Mitoraj began using in the late 1980s — this variant is more sought-after at auction. A third variant, **dark / black-brown**, appears on a small number of examples and tends to read as the most archaeologically convincing of the three.

For collectors, the patina is the single largest factor in valuation after condition and provenance. A clean, original brown patina sits at the typical €3,000–€7,000 hammer range. A green-bronze example with documented provenance can reach €7,000–€11,000. The dark variant occupies a similar bracket to the green. Cleaned or re-patinated surfaces always reduce value substantially, regardless of which finish was original.

The Asclépios has no documented monumental version comparable to the public-installation works (Eros Bendato, Tindaro Screpolato). It is consistently a collector-scale work at ~40–50 cm. The base is travertine in most examples, occasionally black marble or basalt. The capitalised **MITORAJ** signature plus the n/1000 edition number on the reverse are the definitive authentication markers; the bronze should also feel heavy and carry a deep, hand-applied patina rather than a painted surface.

## Collector Positioning: Asclépios vs the Mitoraj Catalogue

Within the secondary market for Mitoraj bronzes, the major benchmarks are the large mythological works: the Persée series, the Eros Bendato, the Centurione sequence, and above all the Tindaro Screpolato, whose auction record of €6.89 million at Sotheby's Paris in 2019 set the ceiling for his entire output. The Asclépios operates in a structurally different market segment — not because of any lesser artistic importance, but because of its extreme scarcity and its primary-market history as a small Parisian gallery edition rather than a studio commission.

The [Persée series](/mitoraj-persee-asclepios.html) exists in editions of varying size across different formats, with documented auction appearances at multiple houses across Europe — the Persée has a genuine public price record. The [Ikaria](/mitoraj-ikaria.html), named for the island of Icarus's fall, is similarly present in auction records and represents a more accessible entry point to the mythological torso series. The Asclépios is different: with only 8 examples ever made, it lacks the volume necessary to generate a reliable comparable set. Each sale is essentially a unique negotiation, and private treaty is almost always the appropriate mechanism.

For collectors building a serious Mitoraj holding, the Asclépios is the natural complement to the Persée — and acquiring them as a pair carries more weight in the long term than holding either alone. The two works were conceived together in 1988, were sold together by Mitoraj's dealers in the late 1980s and 1990s, and continue to be paired in private collections and at auction. Together they form the strongest compositional statement Mitoraj made about the dual nature of classical inheritance.

Authentication for the Asclépios should rely on: the capitalised **MITORAJ** signature incised on the lower edge or reverse; the edition number in format n/1000 on the reverse; the Pietrasanta foundry mark where present (Fonderia Mariani / F.MARIANI or Del Chiaro); the weight and surface character of an authentic hand-applied patina; and any accompanying provenance documentation (gallery receipt, auction catalogue, atelier certificate). The chest and abdomen insets — small recessed rectangular panels on the bronze surface — are the primary compositional identifier shared with the entire Mitoraj 1988 torso series.

## Do You Own a Mitoraj Asclépios?

This is one of the pieces I am most actively seeking. Please contact me — I respond the same day and will make a serious offer.

Any other Mitoraj work also welcome — any subject, condition, or format.

  

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See also: [Tête Secrète (Artcurial, ed. 250)](/mitoraj-tete-secrete.html) · [Centurione series](/mitoraj-centurione.html) · [All Mitoraj bronzes wanted](/mitoraj-bronze-sculptures.html)

## About This Collection

This site documents one private collector's search for works by Igor Mitoraj (1944–2014) — the Polish-French sculptor celebrated for his fractured classical figures in bronze and marble. Mitoraj studied in Kraków under Tadeusz Kantor, trained in Paris at the École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts, and established his permanent studio in Pietrasanta, Tuscany in 1983. His work is held in public collections across Europe and the Americas, and his auction record — €6.89 million for a monumental _Tindaro Screpolato_ at Sotheby's Paris in 2019 — places him among the most sought-after post-war European sculptors. If you have a Mitoraj work available, please use the contact button to get in touch.

### Other Works

[About Igor Mitoraj →](/mitoraj-biography.html) [Centurione II](/mitoraj-centurione-ii.html) [Centurione](/mitoraj-centurione.html) [Tête Secrète](/mitoraj-tete-secrete.html) [Kea (1979)](/mitoraj-kea.html) [Eros Bendato](/mitoraj-eros-bendato.html) [Persée & Asclépios](/mitoraj-persee-asclepios.html) [Portrait d'Homme](/mitoraj-portrait-homme.html) [Visage Voilé](/mitoraj-visage-voile.html) [Persée](/mitoraj-persee.html) [Ikaria Pequeña](/mitoraj-ikaria.html) [Testa Addormentata](/mitoraj-testa-addormentata.html)

### You might also have

[![Persée](/images/mitoraj-persee-brown-2-r.webp)Persée](/mitoraj-persee.html)[![Centurione](/images/mitoraj-centurione-i-new.webp)Centurione](/mitoraj-centurione.html)[![Tindaro Screpolato](/images/paris-tindaro.webp)Tindaro Screpolato](/mitoraj-tindaro.html)[![Ikaria](/images/mitoraj-ikaria-pequenia.webp)Ikaria](/mitoraj-ikaria.html)

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